Representatives from early childhood organizations gathered at the office of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) in Owatonna Thursday to celebrate 14 years of the BookStart program and new BookStart awardees, including Blooming Prairie Public Schools and Southern MN Education Consortium in Adams.

This year, SMIF awarded 10,000 books with a total value of $172,650 in partnership with Capstone, a leading publisher of children’s books and digital products and services. Together, the organizations have placed approximately 89,000 books into the homes of children across southern Minnesota. The goal is that every child has a book of his or her own at home to read or be read to by family members, which promotes a life-long love for reading.

“Awardees find so many creative ways of getting these free books in the hands of kids,” said Teri Steckelberg, SMIF’s Early Childhood Director. “Some projects give children books when they get free meals at the summer lunch wagon. Others give books to adult basic education students who are just learning English so they can read to their child, often for the first time.”

26 organizations across southern Minnesota were awarded this year.

Over the past ten years, SMIF has invested $1.6 million annually for early childhood development initiatives. SMIF has also established 23 community coalitions as part of the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative.