The Tennessee Valley Storyplayers Project

Hello! We are The Tennessee Valley Storyplayers Project, an emerging nonprofit with the goal of improving literacy in the children of the TN Valley and surrounding areas. Did you know that a child reading for pleasure is actually a more reliable indicator of future academic and professional success than reading proficiency? If children learn to love reading, they have a far greater chance of succeeding in school and in their future careers.

The premise is simple: we demonstrate that reading is fun starting in their preschool and early elementary years by providing dramatic readings in the classroom. Props, silly voices, the whole nine yards.

This project was born following my husband and I doing exactly this for a couple of classrooms during Read Across America Week. The kids were fully engaged, begging for another story, and still talking about it weeks and months later. One of the teachers emphatically expressed that this type of engagement was needed in every classroom. So we are answering that call.

We need your help to do it though! We need to raise the initial funds to officially incorporate, apply for 501(c)3 nonprofit status with the IRS, obtain fingerprint background checks (like teachers are required to do for the peace of mind of parents and educators alike), and have official collateral materials produced for presenting to the school districts in our area.

We already have a committed Board of Directors overseeing our operations. We have commitments from the Head Start/VPK classrooms in 4 Tennessee counties (Bradley, Polk, Meigs, and McMinn) to utilize our services (and a request to serve the 6 counties in GA the same organization oversees), and that work will officially begin no later than January 2027. We plan to approach Cleveland City Schools and Bradley County Schools by the end of the current academic year to offer our services for the 2027-2028 school year also.

We are committed to improving the literacy rates and setting children in our area up for success. Will you join us in this endeavor?