Children's Book Festival Volunteer Receives Literacy Champion Award

Robin Goetz received the DAR Literacy Champion Award for her hundreds of hours in service to the Chappaqua Children's Book Festival (CCBF). This certificate recognizes individuals who contributed within their community or state in an outstanding manner by providing services or promoting Literacy. The award was given at Polly Cooper Chapter's September meeting.

The Chappaqua Children's Book Festival is an all-volunteer run event held in Chappaqua New York, now in its 11th year, it is one of the largest annual children’s book festivals in the United States. The festival allows kids of all ages to connect with authors and inspires a love of reading. One of the missions of the CCBF is to place a book in the hand of every child and they are doing just this!

Robin Goetz is the mastermind behind recruiting and organizing the volunteers for the Festival, whose jobs range from setting up the festival tables, unloading thousands of books, decorating and signage, supplying information, ongoing clean-up, and working the checkout lines. The volunteers take care of the creative “talent” consisting of 165+ authors and illustrators plus more than 8000 visitors who attend the event on this single day. The volunteers complete the final touches for festival set-up at 5am and then pack it up at the end of the day, long after the festival closes at 4pm. The next Chappaqua Children's Book Festival is Saturday, September 28, 2024, rain or shine. Volunteers are still needed, especially for the afternoon time slots: CCBF 2024 VOLUNTEERS!!! (signupgenius.com)

Dawn Greenberg, the Executive Director of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival (and Polly Cooper Chapter member) said: “Robin was a founding member of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival managing hundreds of volunteers annually over our eleven years. She always does it with humor and heart, kindness and flexibility. That is why people step up to help with enthusiasm year after year. The Festival would not be possible without her and the support and dedication she evokes from our volunteers.”

More information about the Chappaqua Children's Book Festival, schedule, and ways to support its mission can be found on the website at ccbfestival.org

Education, including literacy initiatives, is one of the pillars of The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), a non-profit, non-political women’s service organization, founded in 1890 to preserve the memory and spirit of those who contributed to securing American independence. With approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active volunteer service organizations. To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit dar.org.

Polly Cooper is a local NSDAR Chapter, and many of its members are long-time volunteers at the Chappaqua Children's Book Festival. The chapter's service projects support education and literacy, historic preservation, conservation, veterans and active-duty service members, genealogy research, naturalization ceremonies for new citizens, and more. Now is a great time to discover if you have an American Revolutionary ancestor as our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026. For more information about Polly Cooper Chapter's activities and membership, please email the chapter at info@pollycooperdar.org.