Sharks Foundation refreshes elementary school library as part of the Goals for Kids program

On Saturday, September 20, the Sharks Foundation revitalized a local elementary school library for the upcoming school year. The Sharks Foundation selected Access Books Bay Area as a Goals for Kids recipient last season, and the $29,715 grant was used to refresh LEAD Elementary School’s library, located in San Mateo.

More than 40 volunteers from Team Teal and SAP joined nonprofit Access Books Bay Area to refurbish the library at LEAD Elementary school in San Mateo. Volunteers prepared 1,170 books by stamping, alphabetizing, applying bar codes, wrapping, and shelving them. LEAD Elementary School Librarian Shannon McGovern said, “The [kids] are so excited about getting all of the new books, they’ve been talking about it since the first day I told them.”

Access Books Bay Area aims to level the playing field for K-8 students living in poverty by providing high quality, high-interest, culturally relevant books, and a transformed library space that invites students to spend time and read. Since 2016, Access Books has donated more than 95,000 books and transformed over 20 school libraries.

Last season the Sharks Foundation, alongside SAP, Taube Philanthropies, Tech CU, and the Swenson Foundation, supported Access Books through the Goals for Kids program which provides a $1,000 donation to selected beneficiaries for every Sharks goal scored at home or on the road. In April, Access Books received a $29,715 grant from the Sharks Foundation at the conclusion of the 2024-25 program.

With the funds received, Access Books identified LEAD Elementary to be the most recent recipient of their transformative work. “The fact that we have the support of our community behind us is just such an amazing opportunity, especially for the kids here at LEAD who can sometimes feel a little bit left out and that’s what’s important about these kinds of events—that they bring us all together and show the kids that we all care and that we all matter,” said McGovern.

Executive Director of the Sharks Foundation and Head of Community Impact for Sharks Sports & Entertainment Kevin Brown said, “Beyond the 1,000 plus books that will be contributed to LEAD Elementary School, it’s thinking about what that means for kids in this community. That’s more than 1,000 opportunities for kids to dream big and be inspired by stories and reading.”

LEAD Elementary is also participating in the Sharks Reading is Cool program powered by the Sharks Foundation. Reading is Cool is a no-cost literacy program focused on kindergarten through5th grade educators across Northern California with resources to encourage reading in and outside of the classroom. "It was exciting that in addition to the Access Books library refresh, we were able to include LEAD Elementary in the Reading is Cool program for the first time. We now have five registered teachers from LEAD Elementary, four of which have never participated in the program before. Now not only will the students have the tools to help hone their reading skills in their updated library, but also every day in their classroom during the six-month program, at no cost to the school,” said Sharks Community Relations Manager, Stephanie Dubin Combo.

The Community Relations team used the Access Books event as an opportunity to hand-deliver this year’s Reading is Cool materials to LEAD Elementary Principal Natalie Delahunt..

With the 2025-26 Sharks Opening Night on the horizon, the Sharks Foundation is looking forward to announcing this season’s Goals for Kids partners and nonprofit beneficiaries. To learn more about the program, visit sjsharks.com/goalsforkids.