Tom reads with a child while on a trip to Laos.

by Robyn Grand, Community Engagement Manager

Words Alive is thrilled to kick off our 2026 Volunteer of the Month series by recognizing Tom Carney as our January Volunteer of the Month! Tom joined Words Alive in early 2025 after intentionally searching for volunteer roles aligned with children’s literacy. Since coming to Words Alive, Tom has supported our Community Engagement Team to help connect community members to our programming, distributed books and literacy resources through our Words on Wheels team, and assembled Learning Kits at our Where the Wild Books Are service events to support the Family Literacy and Read Aloud programs. Tom says that Where the Wild Books Are “satisfies my detail-oriented qualities putting [Learning Kits] together with all the pieces of paper.” Most recently, Tom has jumped into the classroom as a Reading Role Model for the Read Aloud program.

“All the programs have their own merits.” Tom shared, “I just believe in the mission of the organization, so I’m trying to find whatever ways I can contribute, and you have a lot of different avenues for that.”

When asked about his proudest moment of volunteer service with Words Alive, Tom lit up talking about the students in his 3rd grade classroom.

“Reading in the classroom is my newest role in the past couple months. It’s been really enjoyable. I’m sure I’m not going to reach every third grader who’s there because they aren’t all listening closely, but I can tell which ones are and I can tell from the interactions that I’m going to reach them and I feel really good about that.”

“I come into the class during their lunch so they’re all outside having a little playtime. They come into the classroom and I’m sitting there getting ready to read when they come in. I love when a kid comes in with a gasp of excitement that I’m here and they didn’t remember I was coming.”

*Pele* by Sanchez Veara Isabe was the Read Aloud Program’s Winter Giveaway title in December 2025.

Tom’s favorite memories in the classroom are when he sparks curiosity in a young mind. “I really love it when a kid asks a question like,’“well how can I learn more about the subject of this book?’ For Pele by Sanchez Vegara Isabe, the winter Read Aloud Giveaway title, a bunch of kids asked questions like ‘Oh, well is he married? Is he still alive? Does he have children?’

There were a number of questions I didn’t know the answers to, so I said ‘Oh, well we’ll have to do a little research about this afterwards.’ And this little girl responded, ‘Well, how do we do it? How do we go about doing the research? How do I learn more about Pele?’”

For Tom, everything is about supporting his community. “Words Alive comes up because people know I’m retired and ask me what I’m doing with my time. Most people respond very positively and are interested in learning more about the organization and getting involved themselves.”

This year, Tom has stepped up to support the 2025-26 Champions for Youth campaign by hosting a peer-to-peer fundraising page on Words Alive’s behalf. We are in the final days of this year’s campaign, and all donations of $10 or more are eligible to receive bonus funds at the end of the campaign. Want to help Tom hit his fundraising goals? Support his page here!

When asked if he had any advice for folks considering becoming a Champion for Youth or supporting this year’s campaign, Tom shared “Go for it! Get out of your comfort zone and give it a try. People have all sorts of different networks that not everyone can connect with. I’m glad I participated and I would encourage others to do it, especially if they believe strongly in the mission.”

Book Q&A

Did you have a favorite book growing up, or is there a book that has had a big impact on you?

I wasn’t a big reader as a kid. My family was not very well educated. My mother didn’t finish high school, and I think my father did, but they didn’t go to college. They weren’t big readers, so I didn’t read a lot as a kid. It came to me later in life and frankly struggled with reading even through high school, but I had some teachers who pushed me. They saw my ability and pushed me.

When asked if he remembered the first book that really captured his imagination, Tom immediately and enthusiastically responded: “Oh yeah, I mean totally, it was a big one. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo once I got into that and the themes of mercy and forgiveness and Valjean’s harsh following of the rules to catch these criminals stealing bread because they were hungry… I haven’t read it in a long time, but I’ll have to get back to it someday.”

What are you currently reading, or do you have a favorite book to recommend to others?

I usually read a print book and an audio book at the same time. I just finished Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green and it’s both very disheartening and hopeful at the same time. Disheartening because still over a million people die a year from tuberculosis around the world and it is an entirely curable disease. We have the medicine but we don’t have the societal decision making to allocate the resources where they’re needed. It’s sad on one hand, but that can be changed, so it’s hopeful.

For the print book, I just picked up A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson. One of the good things about retirement, I have so much time to read now. It’s great!