HOW ‘FLY’ ELEVATES EARLY LITERACY

When Sally McArthur enrolled in law school at age 45, she wasn’t seeking to join a big firm and rake in big bucks. Instead, she wanted to work within the legal system to help underprivileged children—not the most lucrative clients, to be sure, but clients who have the greatest need for advocates. 

And, as McArthur was to discover, clients who also have the greatest need for books that they can own and cherish. Meeting that need is the focus of Facilitating Learning for Youth (FLY), an organization that she founded in 2020. Headquarters is the first floor of an outbuilding on the campus of First Congregational Church of Winter Park.

A voracious reader herself, McArthur—who had previously earned an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College—was hired by the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association after she graduated from the FAMU School of Law in Orlando in 2006.

Her interest in giving books to children who wouldn’t otherwise have them developed gradually, while she was working in the organization’s guardian ad litem division. Then, after making a home visit to check on the safety of a 3-year-old client, she realized what had to be done. 

“As a way to develop a relationship with the child, I asked if she’d like to read a book,” recalls McArthur. “She was very excited and said that she did. I told her to go get a book and we’d read it together.” 

But the little girl returned carrying a case meant for storing CDs. While flipping through page after page of empty sleeves, she cobbled together a story from her imagination. “To her, this was a book—and the only one she had,” says McArthur. “She was such a bright and creative child. I couldn’t think about anything else the rest of the day.” 

In the weeks ahead, McArthur poured over studies, several of which showed that simply having books at home increased the number of years that children stayed in school—regardless of the educational level of the parents or the affluence of the home. 

She discussed the situation with her boss at Legal Aid, who appeared sympathetic and agreed to let her start a program that supplied free books to children with whom she and other guardian ad litem attorneys worked. But there was a catch: She had to raise the money herself to buy the books and store them in her small downtown office. 

Undaunted, McArthur had heard about a national charity called First Book, which received overstock (but brand new) children’s books directly from publishers. Nonprofits could buy the books in bulk—50 cents each at the time—but only if they were distributed free to families in need. 

McArthur’s home church, First Congregational, provided seed money and the program got underway. It was quickly successful, and eventually distributed thousands of books annually as case managers and other guardian ad litem attorneys began to participate. 

When she retired in 2019, McArthur knew that her work remained unfinished. She and her oldest son, Cody, formed FLY—in the midst of the pandemic—with a grant from the Winter Park-based Warren and Augusta Hume Foundation Inc. (Funders of the Hume House Child Development Center at Rollins.)

Unlike the program she had started at Legal Aid, FLY would be targeted specifically toward Title I schools—where at least 50 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches. Office and storage space was provided by First Congregational and a grassroots teacher awareness campaign was launched by McArthur.

The organization earned official nonprofit status in January 2021. Since then, FLY has distributed more than 50,000 books to teachers who drive from six counties for Teacher Pickup Days in Winter Park. “Taking the time to pick up free books is a small sacrifice with a lifelong impact,” says Dawn Garrett, a kindergarten teacher at Bonneville Elementary School in Union Park. “Access to books changes everything for my students.”

Additional books get to children through community partners—among them Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Community Care for Children, Healthy Start and New Hope for Kids—as well as through literacy events and little free libraries placed in low-income areas.

But aren’t books in schools a political issue now? Well, of course—isn’t everything? While many teachers have eliminated their borrow-and-return classroom libraries for fear of violating state regulations, no law (at least none as of press time) prohibits giving a book to a child—unless, of course, the book is pornographic. 

Regardless, teachers who get books from FLY usually send letters home explaining the program. If parents don’t want their children to have free, age-appropriate books, they may opt out. “No parent that I know of has ever opted out,” says McArthur. “In fact, they’re grateful. Most of these kids come from homes where they can’t afford to buy books.”

FLY remains structurally small despite its impressive book distribution numbers. Debbie Freeland, McArthur’s friend through their mutual involvement in Central Florida MENSA, is in charge of IT and logistics, while her son, Cody, continues to manage distribution and transportation. The three are also the organization’s only board members—and no one gets paid.

In addition, every semester Rollins provides FLY with an intern or two through the Bonner Leader Program—a work-study scholarship initiative on 70 campuses nationwide designed for undergraduates with financial need who are committed to community service and social justice. The college pays the students a $3,000 per year stipend.

FLY’s under-the-radar efforts have also attracted the attention of a formidable group of community leaders who have organized an informal “brain trust” for the organization. The group includes Stephanie Carmody, Peg Cornwell, Cynthia Hasenau, Kristen Matt, Linda Keen and Cynthia Wood.  

When the board expands later this summer, many of these high-powered brain trusters plan to become more formally affiliated and will guide FLY through a scaling-up process. One pressing priority will be locating additional space—at least 2,000 square feet—because of ongoing storage challenges.

“Our vision is that every child in Central Florida will be equipped with books, inspired to learn and empowered to succeed in school and in life,” says McArthur. “To achieve this, we must put books into the hands and homes of children who need them. Children who read are children who think, learn and thrive.”