KAN's impact in 2025: More than 12000 books distributed in Kennett and Coatesville

More than 4000 of these books were taken, most of these for children and adolescents

As described in an earlier post, KAN strives to build on the wonderful network of volunteer organizations in Kennett to help people like Margot with Intellectual / Developmental Disabilities and/or Autism (IDD/A)- who might lack the potential for competitive employment - to have a meaningful impact in critical areas of need. We can now report on one such area: getting books into the hands of residents eager to read, especially children and adolescents: Margot and other adults like her placed more than 12000 donated books in about two dozen Pop Up Lending Libraries or PULLs in 2025, and; more than 4000 of these books were taken home, mostly books for children and adolescents. And we expect to do even more in 2026! This is in addition to our other work, including getting more than 2 1/2 tons of food into the hands of Kennett residents struggling to feed their families. The PULL campaign was originally launched by Arts Holding Hands and Hearts (AHHAH).

Margot and two other young adults help to restock 19 of the PULL kiosks scattered around Kennett/Unionville, and another 10 in Coatesville/Downingtown every 4 weeks or so. From our "Library" on Willow St., they load an assortment of 40-60 books for preschoolers through adults into milk crates and then carry these to the car or, for 12 PULLs nearby, onto a handcart or cargo bike for delivery with the help of a Direct Support Professional (DSP) . After Margot hands books to her DSP to empty the PULL, she hands the books for restocking back to her DSP. Once back at KAN, DSPs count the number of returned and donated books, entering the data into Margot's Daily Note.

Margot using our adapted cargo bike to help re-stock a PULL in Kennett in the walkway by the Genesis building

We expect that the number of books distributed through the PULLs will grow significantly by at least 25% this year. While we maintained about 13 PULLs in Kennett throughout 2025, we added 6 more during the course of the year, and then another 8 in Coatesville in June. This expansion was made possible as another young adult (Jacob) began in to help in June and a second (Laura) in September.

As described elsewhere, much of this works pivots around evidence-based teaching techniques and goals carefully tailored to the interests and abilities of Margot and others working at KAN. We summarized some of the focused interventions we rely upon (many drawn from Applied Behavior Analysis) in our recently published book on Evidence Based Practice in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). After carving the work into different elements, we select goals that build on the strengths and experience of Margot and others so that over time they can together assume an increasing proportion of the overall work required. In Margot's case, she is comfortable carrying books and handing them to her DSP but struggles to place them correctly on a shelf or in a kiosk.

The DSPs working with Margot and others like her are also key to the program's success. As described in a chapter in press in a landmark ASD review, hiring, training, supervising, and retaining DSPs to work with people like Margot often becomes the responsibility of parents. In her case (and for many like her in Pennsylvania), there simply are no programs available: and parents have no choice but to turn to self-directed programs that are funded through waivers. These waiver programs offer a limited range of services at rates that, at least for DSP, usually fall short of a living wage. It can take 3-4 months before Margot's DSPs can effectively begin to deliver her programs - in the case of the PULLs, this includes pushing Margot to increase her independence while taking responsibility for portions of the work beyond Margot's abilities.

Keeping this pace up can sometimes be challenging. PULL stations sometimes need maintenance (or even replacement, as when an errant snow plow destroyed our Kennett Library PULL during the clean up from the recent "snowpocalypse") and we are always looking for volunteers to repair existing PULLs or build new ones. But our biggest challenge has been replacing the books taken from PULLs - the 4000 books taken in 2025 would fill almost 17 of our tall IKEA Billy bookshelves or about 100 banker's boxes!! While young adults at KAN, the CCIU's Transitional Living Program at Pennock's Bridge, and Active Day in Kennett Square have helped keep pace with the labelling of donated books, we have come close to running out of replacement books for children and youth... the bulk of the books taken. We are planning a book drive here in Kennett, and are hoping that we can find a community partner willing to help get the word out and host collection boxes.

We are very excited to begin rolling out an initiative to answer a key question: are the books taken reaching our intended audience - children, especially early readers? AHHAH's PULL campaign (and others like it) are usually part of a larger effort to encourage literacy in children because reading with an adult or one one's own is recognized as one of the most effective strategies for kick-starting academic and social development, in children, and especially in those at-risk. We have yet to discover research relevant to this question, however. So we have begun to systematically categorize books by placing colored dots on labeled books according to the age group (Pre-K, Grades 1-6, Youth, and Adult) on the back of each book.

In addition to tracking the number of books taken by each group, categorizing books creates new opportunities for KAN's young adults to demonstrate their independence. For example, some of KAN's young adults will be able to use the dot to sort the books into piles, count them, and then shelve them accordingly. And they have already begin to take charge of applying the dots!