Delco family honors life of late mother with The Kara Barnard Fund for Youth Literacy

RIDLEY PARK, Pa. - "We have some young adult books. We have some math books over here"  said Mike Barnard as he weaved his way through stacked plastic milk crates doubling as book shelves.

"Books about trees and forests and science…" he continued.

The basement office resembles a mini Barnes and Noble book store inside the basement of a Ridley Park office building on Hinkley Avenue.

Barnard is not a librarian, but he might as well be. He became an expert on children’s books as a way to grieve for his late wife.

"When she left us way too early, this community just wrapped our arms around our family" said Barnard.

The backstory:

His wife, Kara Barnard and mother of three sons, died suddenly of a cardiac emergency back in March 2015. Her family and the community were crushed.

But out of that grief came an idea. Shortly after her death, The Kara Barnard Fund for Youth Literacy was born. 

"She was a devoted mother to our three children. And she wanted to make sure they wanted to have a love for reading. And she just loved to read," said Barnard.

The idea began as her son's Eagle Scout project to collect a few books. 

The non-profit is now a decade old and continues to thrive by delivering books to children all over Delaware County.

"I just thought it would be no better way to honor her than to help other kids in this community. She loved this community. She loved Ridley born and raised" said Barnard.

The fund started with a goal of collecting and distributing 500 books. 10 years later they have giving out more than 60,000.  New or gently used books are donated then volunteers categorize and store them. Schools, charities, day care centers and just about anyone place an order online and the books are delivered by volunteers.

"We follow what the forms says, what kind of books they want and we put them and load them into boxes and package them up. We put the label on it and write a little note" said volunteer Ashton Trent.

The library is housed in the headquarters for The Community’s Foundation in Ridley Park. TCF is an umbrella group that help smaller non-profit organizations with the business side of a running a charity. 

"The Community's Foundation had made a commitment some years ago to focus on smaller organizations that might not have the capacity to be their own non profit. This is what we excel at" said Claire Baker, Program Director at The Community’s Foundation"

For Barnard ,it’s bitter sweet knowing 10 years after his wife's death she’s still making a difference.

"She would be proud. She would be so proud this has benefitted so many kids in this community that it brings her family together" added Barnard.

What you can do:

If you would like more information on the Kara Barnard Fund for Youth Literacy, you can click this link.