OUR STORY

Early Inspirations:

Chris McGilvery has always been inspired by his mother. Growing up in Iloilo City, Philippines, she lived in a bamboo house with a dirt floor and no running water. At age 11, she had to leave school to work on the family farm. She didn’t have the opportunity for her own educational journey and thus made it her life’s mission to support her children in theirs. She emphasized the importance of education and taking advantage of the opportunities that she wasn’t given.

Chris’s parents met in the Philippines; his father, an American born in Boston, was stationed at Clark Air Force Base with the U.S. military. They married and moved to the United States where Chris was born in Texas. They frequently moved around due to his father’s military service. He went to school in Hawaii from kindergarten to 7th grade and was back in Texas in San Antonio for grades 8 – 12. San Antonio holds a special place in Chris’s heart because of the excellent education he received there.

Growing up, service was a passion for Chris and he regularly volunteered in local schools with the American Heart Association. But it was the stories and memories shared by his mother that would have a lasting impact on his work as an educator and inspire him to start Give More HUGS (what would later rebrand as The Leaders Readers Network).

Living in Dominica:

In 2011, Chris’s wife began grad school in Dominica, a small 290-square-mile Caribbean island of less than 100,000 people. Chris began working at the medical school and volunteered in the Indigenous part of the island, the Kalinago Territory. He was immediately struck by the close-knit community and also by the poverty and lack of resources that surrounded him.

“Living in Dominica reminded me of my mother’s story. The people there became our family and I knew that I wanted to do something to support them,” Chris said. 

Throughout the 2 years (2011 – 2013) that they lived in Dominica, the McGilverys would occasionally return to Texas to visit friends and family. While stateside, they would collect school supplies, clothing, and age-appropriate books to bring back to the schools in Dominica. 

When it came time to leave the island, the McGilverys hosted a garage sale to part with personal belongings that wouldn’t be making the trip with them. All told, they raised around $1,000 which allowed Chris to go home and form a nonprofit organization in the state of Texas. The founding board of directors included friends from Texas and community members from Dominica.

Stateside:

Bolstered by the support of his loved ones, the local Rotary club, and other nonprofit organizations, Chris officially registered Give More HUGS (Helping Unite Giving Souls) as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in  February 2013. The motto “Helping Unite Giving Souls” expresses the communities that Chris has brought together and emphasizes how Chris and his team lead. In 2020, the organization would rebrand as The Leaders Readers Network.

During the early years, our mission aimed to provide books and educational supplies for children in underserved communities and to mentor students to become leaders who value service learning and volunteerism.

In 2013, after a brief stop in Texas, Chris and his wife relocated again, this time to Yonkers, New York. She finished her degree and Chris worked as an instructional designer and taught first-year seminar and communication courses in digital media at Manhattanville College.

The community at Manhattanville College embraced the McGilverys, and soon the faculty and students began joining the organization as board members and ambassadors. Largely based on where volunteers had connections, the mission of book and school supply drives expanded to include Port Chester and the Bronx, NY; Bridgeport, CT; and the Dominican Republic. Students held book drives and fairs, service projects, and community events to further the mission.

Other students and educators collaborated with an “adopt a classroom or school” initiative that supported schools not just in Dominica and Texas but also in California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and internationally in Japan, Grenada, and Barbados.

Student Led:

With more and more students getting involved, Chris found support from old friends (from both Dominica and Angelo State University) to launch a formal Student Ambassador Program in 2014. They helped coordinate volunteers on the island to support book giveaway and supply distributions. This team set the foundation for what the Student Ambassador Program is today. While serving as a student ambassador herself, one volunteer built out graphics and marketing content that are used to this day. Now, over a decade and counting later, these early leaders still support The Leaders Readers Network in various volunteer capacities because they see how the work that they do makes a difference. 

The Student Ambassador Program supports youth development by empowering students (ages 13 – 24) to learn leadership, project management, and advocacy skills, complete service projects, improve literacy outcomes, and support equitable opportunities in education.

As students collected and distributed books, an idea was planted to include a little love with each book. That’s how writing words of encouragement in each book was born. Students would receive a gently used book with a note of inspiration. To date, volunteers continue to enjoy writing uplifting messages to students in underserved communities. We know our words are powerful and we aim to make sure every child we work with feels encouraged and supported.

Immediate Aid:

Chris and the organization’s community were focused on expanding the organization in the United States when Tropical Storm Erika hit Dominica in 2015. The growing TLRN community immediately rallied around Dominica, providing aid to support damaged schools and partnering with another foundation to provide medical supplies. TLRN volunteers and a team of medical students descended on the island to work with eight schools and four community organizations. We delivered 12 barrels with medical supplies, school supplies, books, art supplies, gardening equipment, extracurricular sporting equipment, and more to support schools and communities. We were humbled to be able to mobilize a team so quickly to support Dominica.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the last time we would rally our team around a devastating natural disaster. In 2017, Dominica Strong was back on our radar in response to Hurricane Maria. The Leaders Readers Network raised $65,000 for schools that were hit by Hurricane Maria. In that same year, we also raised $2,000 to support Houston students in two schools that were impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

It Starts With Educators:

In 2016, Chris and his family moved to Temple, Texas. Chris worked part-time as executive director at a local foundation and taught at a local Title 1 school. In Temple, the student ambassador team expanded.

It was in Temple that Chris and the community launched the Teacher Ambassador Program (now the Literacy Fellowship). In 2019, we hosted our first retreat. Created by educators, for educators, the Literacy Fellowship provides teachers at Title 1 schools with free professional development, a diverse classroom library, literacy enrichment activities, and brand new books for students four times a year.

Recognition:

In 2020, we were honored to receive the Grand Prize for the Freedom Through Literacy Award and to be recognized by the Texas Center for the Book as a 2020 Honorable Mention. The year following, in November 2021, our work was even featured in the New York Times. In 2021, our team and generous supporters provided 35,000 brand-new books and 5,000 backpacks. We activated 17,500 service hours and partnered with 32 student ambassadors, 34 literacy fellows, and 117 volunteers to provide over 1,500 classrooms with books for students. 

The Leaders Readers Network is very appreciative of the honor bestowed by the Amarillo City Council on August 16, 2022—a proclamation declaring August 4 as The Leaders Readers Network Day.

After a decade of volunteering for the cause, in January 2023, our founder and executive director, Chris McGilvery, was brought on formally as a part-time executive director for TLRN.

Our Future:

We have continued to expand with each passing year, growing the number of students and teachers in our programs, providing more books to classrooms, and offering more professional development to our community. 

We are truly a network of leaders and readers. And we couldn’t do it without the support of our community, Board Members, Advisory Council Members, educators, school administrators, and student volunteers.