Photo credit: David Baldacci/ Instagram
In 2008, their Wish You Well Foundation partnered with Feeding America to launch Feeding Body & Mind, a programme that collects new and gently used books and distributes them through food banks.
Baldacci’s website says the initiative has collected and delivered more than one million books to families in need. For many families, a visit to a food bank is about meeting an immediate need: putting meals on the table. Author David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, wanted to add something that could nourish another part of family life, too. It has also given food banks a way to offer families something beyond groceries. Feeding Body & Mind grew from the Baldaccis’ wider commitment to literacy. David and Michelle established the Wish You Well Foundation to support family and adult literacy programmes in the United States. Their partnership with Feeding America connected that work to a national network of food banks already serving families experiencing hunger. The programme addresses what its organisers see as connected challenges. Food insecurity can place pressure on families, while limited access to books and literacy resources can make learning harder. Feeding Body & Mind does not treat books as a substitute for food assistance. Instead, it brings the two forms of support together, so families visiting a food bank can also find reading material to take home. The Gaithersburg Book Festival’s profile of the programme explains its guiding idea: food can help keep a person alive, while stronger literacy skills can help create opportunities and challenge poverty. The initiative’s name captures that belief, linking nourishment for the body with resources for the mind. The project has also invited readers to take part directly. At some of Baldacci’s book signings, supporters have been encouraged to bring books and place them in collection boxes. When a box is full, the Wish You Well Foundation arranges for the books to be sent to a nearby food bank, so donations can benefit families in that community. That local element matters. A donated book can become a child’s first book of their own, a story shared at bedtime or a resource for an adult building reading skills. The programme does not assume every family needs the same titles, but it creates a chance for readers to choose books that interest them and take them home. A book is a modest object, yet having one available can make a difference in a household where buying extra reading material may not be possible. For children, books can support curiosity and language development. For adults, reading materials can offer practice, entertainment and a way to share stories across generations. David and Michelle Baldacci’s initiative began with a simple connection between nourishment and literacy. More than a million books later, that idea continues to travel through food banks and into homes across the United States.
The idea is straightforward: food helps sustain people today, while books can encourage learning, imagination and literacy over time.
