OUR MISSION
"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?"
- George Eliot, Middlemarch
We are students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in a service learning class in the UNLV Honors College. In our HON496 course, titled "Books for the Unhoused," we are working together to raise book donations to provide the joy of reading to the unhoused population in Las Vegas.
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To learn more about the class and hear directly from students, read this article from the Honors College.
Video Credit: Christine Guardian
WHY BOOKS?
We have learned that books provide engaging, informative, and easily accessible ways for individuals, especially the unhoused, to learn new skills and broaden their knowledge. Reading can provide education and expand perspectives, stimulate the mind, reduce stress and anxiety, and offer a sense of community through reading groups and book clubs. By offering these benefits, books and reading can play an important role in helping homeless individuals improve their lives and increase their chances of transitioning out of homelessness.
HOW IT STARTED
The HON496 course is offered every year at UNLV with the goal of providing students on- and off-campus learning linked to serving a community group that experiences social injustice. Community partners may change every semester. This Spring 2023 semester, Dr. Maria Jerinic of UNLV was inspired to understand how books can provide help to the homeless populations of Nevada and made this change a reality by creating this course topic.
