Director of Finance and Administration

Name: Rainey Lynch

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Email: Rainey@booksforkeeps.org

Start Date: February 2017

Role at Books for Keeps: I started my tenure at Books for Keeps in February of 2017 as the Media Coordinator, a vast, nebulous role that included social media, bookkeeping, stewardship, and communications. I’m now the Director of Finance and Administration, a vast, nebulous role that includes bookkeeping, human resources, community outreach, administrative support of all kinds, and one too many calls to the GA Department of Revenue.

“Sparkbook”: Books spark in me a deep and complex joy. I have always loved everything from touching the cover to bending the spine to sinking myself into the world within, but I first remember connecting with a specific character when reading Harriet the Spy in fourth grade. I wanted to be a spy, but more than that, I wanted to live in a world as interconnected and ever-changing as New York City in 1964. After Harriet, this experience has happened to me over and over and over.

Why you’re here: In so many ways, literacy, learning, and reading have brought to me throughout my life a kind of freedom and hope I can’t imagine living without. Literacy at its most basic level is foundational to everything from grocery shopping to traveling to applying for a job to making informed choices about your life – opportunities every single person deserves. But the power of true, robust literacy lies in the places outside of ourselves reading can take us – giving us the ability to see who we are and who we can become, to explore the lived experiences of others, to escape when the world becomes too heavy a burden, or to simply dream.

Community Engagement Manager

Name: Colleen Craven

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Email: colleen@booksforkeeps.org

Start Date: June 2022

Role at Books for Keeps: I get to hang out with my 2nd and 3rd-grade friends at H.B. Stroud Elementary School overseeing our new Literacy Mentor Program! While I handle all of the logistics, recruitment, scheduling, and management, I most enjoy working with our Literacy Mentor Volunteers and meeting with the students themselves.

My Sparkbook: The first book I remember truly enjoying was a book I read from my homemade fort the summer in-between 4th and 5th grade, a book called Operation Redwood about a kid who finds out his uncle’s company wants to tear down California’s Redwood Forest. It follows him and his friends trying to stop that from happening. I haven’t picked it up again, but I bet it’s still just as good. (I just put a hold on it at the Athens-Clarke Library.)

Favorite BFK Moment: If you’ve worked with young kids, you get it. So many laughs and rewarding moments.

Why you’re here: I am an adopted child, and I grew up thinking that was the norm thanks to a book called Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born. In fact, it worked so well that I had to be told to stop picking on my friends for once being in a tummy because, contrary to my belief, being adopted does not mean one evades being born. This bedtime story boosted my confidence so much that I thought it was weird to not be adopted. That’s empowerment. However, experiences that differ from the “norm” are not always handled in a way that allows folks to look back so fondly.

That experience laid the foundation for why I wanted to go into social work and work specifically with kids who might be at a disadvantage circumstantially. I wanted to empower and normalize. Near the end of my Social Work graduate program, I see a job opening for a position that manages a program for elementary schoolers in a Title I district, with the goal of relying on a mentoring relationship to garner excitement around reading and therefore tangible literacy skills. Not to mention, it is with an organization that is devoted to providing access to high-interest books that share and normalize the diverse experiences of those around us. Sold! I am here because it was a perfect match and I could not believe something this wonderful existed; here to empower!

Operations Manager

Name: Bryce Seuntjens

Pronouns: they/them

Email: bryce@booksforkeeps.org

Start Date: August 2020 (As a volunteer); March 2021 (As an employee)

Role at Books for Keeps: If you visit our warehouse, you’ll more than likely catch me in action with volunteers or organizing books. I manage our wonderful key volunteers, individual volunteers, and volunteer groups. I also manage our warehouse space and book inventory, both purchased and donated. Book research and purchasing for our programs is another part of my role at Books for Keeps, which is honestly quite fun.

Sparkbook: I struggled with reading throughout grade school, causing me to avoid books for many years. After being diagnosed with ADHD and learning I have aphantasia my senior year of high school and into college, I discovered I do enjoy reading and reading may just look a little different for me. I started reading nonfiction books about politics, philosophy, history, and sociology and was hooked. With that, my ‘Sparkbook’ is actually a series – the Very Short Introduction series. This series allowed and continues to allow me to learn about dang near anything under the sun in an easily digestible way.

Favorite BFK Moment: Some of my favorite BFK moments have been seeing kids get excited about seeing themselves in books.

Why you’re here: I am passionate about equity and inclusion, two core principles here at Books for Keeps. I see the value that books bring to people, especially through representation and access. And I am fortunate to be a part of that. Given my experience with books growing up, I also want to help kids find the types of books that speak to them and build their confidence with reading.

Position

Name: Andy Ekegbu

Pronouns: He/Him

Email: andy@booksforkeeps.org

Start Date: October 2022

Role at Books for Keeps: I’m the Book Access Coordinator at Books For Keeps! My primary roles are communicating with media specialists to coordinate logistics for Stop Summer Slide, and supporting the Operation Manager in the warehouse. I also manage the Athens chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Pre-K Book Bundles, and book donations we receive from the community.

Sparkbook: My most memorable sparkbook was Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. The amazing world that Suzanne Collins created that made me fall in love with the fantasy genre and opened my eyes to the exciting places books can take you. A very close second is A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, I couldn’t put those books down for a second and finished all thirteen books within a month!

Favorite BFK Moment:  I enjoy seeing my mentee through the Mentorship Program at Stroud Elementary School every week. I’m so fortunate that I was matched with an amazing kiddo, and I look forward to meeting other mentees in the years to come. I also love working with our volunteers! Books For Keeps has the most fun, energetic, and hard-working volunteers, and I consider myself so lucky that I get to work with them throughout the week.

Why you’re here: As the child of an immigrant parent, I have seen the result of what literacy can do for a person. It is truly life-changing to have access to books without restrictions, and I want every child to have the same opportunity. Literacy is so important to showing kids that the world is full of beautiful, wonderful possibilities as to what we can learn, where we can go, and things we can imagine.