King Urban Life Center is receiving a major addition geared toward improving literary access on Buffalo’s East Side.
A literal ton or more of reading will now be in store for students visiting the LifeCenter. Project Flight, a nonprofit organization that works to improve literacy in the community, is providing just over 2,000 books that will be gifted to students from King Center Charter School and BRICK Buffalo Academy Charter School.
There were many sleepless nights for Project Flight co-founder Elizabeth Cappella after the May 14 Tops mass shooting. She founded the initiative alongside fellow Buffalo State University professor Geraldine Bard. The Literacy Library Collection for Equity, Social Justice & Peace is one way Project Flight joined with a St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute student whose family member was killed, Cappella said.
“We've been always trying to look at social justice and equity, and peace as a combination of what can we do to change people's perceptions of violence and culture, and diversity in a way that doesn't alienate people,” she said.
The collection includes literature on the lives of Ghandi, Mother Frances Cabrini, and on topics like stopping bullying or domestic violence.
Having a range of fiction, biographies and other topics helps because they can appeal to different readers, King Urban Life Center Center Executive Director Da’Von McCune said.
“Books are being taken out of schools, being taken out of libraries," he said. "So, more important than ever is it to make sure that we get these books in the hands of our young people, our babies, our future leaders.”
The King Center will receive close to 150 additional books as part of the Literacy Library.
Improving literacy in the community is key to reducing division, Cappella said.
“We're trying to create a space that's safe that people can sit and talk," she said. "They can certainly be on different ends of the spectrum, but not with hate or violence in their hearts. They've got to be open to whatever is going to be transpiring.”
Now that the collection is at the King Urban Life Center, it will be named in honor of Bob Kresse, one of the community center’s co-founders and a well-known philanthropist, McCune said.
