The packages just kept arriving at Literacy United.
In the days leading up to TCU’s Oct. 3 football game against BYU, the Fort Worth nonprofit received deliveries from people across the country. Children’s books. Learning games. Educational supplies. As more Amazon boxes showed up each day, staff cleared shelves to make room for the deluge.
BYU, based in Provo, Utah, and currently the No.8-ranked team in the nation, beat TCU 17-10. But young readers in Fort Worth won a clear victory — even before the nonprofit counted the books that fans brought with them.
By the end of the weekend, BYU and TCU supporters and football fans had donated more than $9,000, according to organizers, plus about 650 books and educational supplies. A final count of the money and supplies gathered, including online contributions, is underway.
The small nonprofit works to help children with reading difficulties. The unexpected support means hundreds of books can go directly in the hands of Fort Worth children, and money that Literacy United would have allocated to purchase those materials can instead support reading instruction.
“I have been astounded,” said Kary Johnson, Literacy United’s executive director. “I had no clue, and it continues to come in.”
Cougs Care, a BYU alumni-led initiative that organizes community service projects around that university’s away football games, was a major part of the effort.
For most teams, fans simply meet in bars or tailgate in their opponents’ parking lots before those games. BYU supporters, instead, work with nonprofits in the communities they visit. They may collect food, clothing and other needed supplies. Or they might gather and distribute books.
This time around, the focus was on childhood literacy.
Jennifer Beech, a Plano-based pre-K English-as-a-second-language teacher and member of BYU’s school of education alumni organization, helped organize the effort.
She’s always been passionate about early literacy, she said, so she began researching Fort Worth nonprofits months before the game. She spoke with several organizations before selecting Literacy United. The nonprofit’s work with young children, its school-based programs and its efforts to remove financial barriers stood out, she said.
Literacy United provides reading intervention and other educational services to children, primarily those whose families cannot afford private tutoring.
“If we can support that literacy growth in the very early ages down to pre-K, which is what I’m passionate about, you can change lives,” Beech said.
About 4,000 fans attended BYU’s Oct. 2 tailgate at Josey Ranch Athletic Complex in Carrollton, said Tyson Oblad, a Dallas immigration lawyer and chair of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the BYU alumni association. Organizers had anticipated about half that many.
The book drive was positioned right at the entrance, allowing fans to donate as they arrived. While some brought armfuls of books, others — including some who had forgotten or did not know about the service project before arriving — scanned a QR code to purchase and donate supplies from an Amazon wish list.
Thousands of dollars were made in online donations before the tailgate event even began.
“I didn’t expect that many donations,” Oblad said. “It was a very surprising weekend.”
TCU supporters also participated.
Ahead of the game, the universities’ education leaders coordinated visits to each other’s campuses and to Literacy United’s programs. TCU then collected books during its own Oct. 3 tailgate outside Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Oblad previously helped organize a Cougs Care event at SMU. But the collaboration with TCU stood out, he said.
The partnership demonstrated how a football game between two conference opponents could give way to a common purpose, Beech said.
“We’re going to compete on the football field,” she said. “But when it gets down to it, we’re all on the same page with supporting children in that community.”
Literacy United plans to distribute the books through its Bookworms programs at Fort Worth ISD schools, at monthly Saturday literacy programs and through community events and camps serving children with disabilities.
Some will also be included in holiday gift packages for children and families the nonprofit serves.
Many of those children have limited access to books of their own, Johnson said. Public libraries provide opportunities for children to borrow reading materials, but transportation and other barriers can make regular visits difficult, she said.
Now, children can select something they want to read and keep at home.
“If you can’t afford food, if you can’t afford to put gas in the car, you’re certainly not going to go to Target and buy a $20 book,” Johnson said.
The nonprofit distributed about 7,000 books last year. This year’s goal is 10,000. Receiving hundreds at once certainly helps to reach that, Johnson said.
But the donations also address the challenge of providing reading instruction, she said.
Unlike organizations that primarily use volunteers to deliver services, much of Literacy United’s funding pays trained literacy specialists and other educators whom the nonprofit relies on to work directly with children.
Receiving materials at no cost allows Literacy United to direct more money toward staffing and services, Johnson said.
“What a book drive doesn’t accomplish is teaching kids to read,” Johnson said.
Children who struggle need instruction from educators trained to teach foundational skills, she said. While books at home help children practice and build vocabulary, they do not replace instruction.
The nonprofit has also received increased interest from prospective volunteers, Johnson said. BYU supporters helped connect the organization with JustServe, a volunteer platform that could provide ongoing assistance.
Beech hopes that relationship continues. She wants local volunteers to remain connected to Literacy United long after BYU’s visit, she said.
Meanwhile, Johnson is still working through the donated supplies, which continued arriving days after the game.
The generosity surprised her. Many donors had no previous connection to Literacy United or the children it serves.
Other college football programs should adopt a similar approach when traveling to another community, she said.
“If every football team did that, how cool would that be if that was the norm?” Johnson said.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
Disclosure: TCU is a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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