Laneta Goings, far left, gives out free books to children. Books 4 Buddies has donated more than 30,000 books to promote literacy in Ohio as well as places like Belize.
5. Laneta Goings: Gathering Lots of Books 4 Buddies
Laneta Goings, co-founder of Books 4 Buddies.
Laneta Goings can’t fathom the thought that some children have never owned a book. So when her 14-year-old grandson, Touré McCord, came up with the idea for Books 4 Buddies, she dived in, serving as co-founder and now president of the non-profit organization based in Toledo, Ohio.
Touré fell in love with books after he overcame challenges with reading comprehension in the sixth grade. He wanted to share his passion with his peers, and his grandmother was thrilled to make his dream come true. It was also a great way to instill in him what she had learned as a child: It’s more blessed to give than to receive.
Books 4 Buddies collected about 1,000 new and gently used books during its first year in 2012. Since then, B4B has gathered more than 30,000 books, distributing them mostly in underserved neighborhoods of Northwestern Ohio, but also as far away as Jamaica, Guatemala and Belize.
For her efforts, Goings was awarded a Milestone Award for volunteerism at the YWCA’s 20th anniversary gala earlier this year. The American Institute for Public Service also honored her with a Jefferson Award, dubbed the Nobel Prize for community service from coast to coast.
Laneta Goings, right, with Books 4 Buddies Ambassadors and Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romulus Durant, dressed as the Cat in the Hat.
Goings is known as a key go-to person around town, who gets the job done with a smile and finesse. When someone torched a local mosque, destroying its private school and library, she rounded up 600 books for the schoolchildren.
She led the effort to establish the Louise J. Brower Performing Arts Theater at the historic Scott High School and to organize a dedication ceremony in honor of her sixth-grade teacher, an education pioneer and role model for legions of students.
A past president of the local Links chapter and member of numerous other groups, Goings has worked on behalf of everything from the zoo to fair housing. But literacy is her main thing, these days, and a gift of a book isn’t simply “the end.”
Goings mentors two dozen“ambassadors,” teenage boys who serve in turn serve as role models through their volunteerism with Books 4 Buddies. And she wants to hear from the buddies about the books that they chose and their reading habits. That’s the real page-turner for Goings, who is committed to promoting literacy and changing lives — one book at a time.
