Every student in HCDE’s Head Start campuses will receive a new book thanks to the Virginia-based Balint Charities.

Wednesday, Steve Balint delivered 1,200 books by Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, and actress Lupita Nyong’o to be distributed to students this month.

Balint Charities encompasses Barb’s Books and Fran’s Bands, founded in 2013 by Kathleen Christesen to honor her parents, Francis and Barbara Balint, and provide a legacy of the importance of reading and music in a young child’s life. The couple was lifelong supporters of educational institutions, large and small, and instilled, not only in their six children and 17 grandchildren but all children, the importance of education.

“Current research shows early literacy skills can set the stage for success in school,” Christesen said, “Barb’s Books addresses this research by providing books to preschool-aged children.”