Around 15 community members gathered last weekend for a ribbon cutting ceremony for Oak Park’s newest bookstore, Mission Curiosity, starting a new chapter for Our Future Reads.
The celebration was fueled by Franklin Taylor, founder of Our Future Reads, who launched the nonprofit to provide books to those who lack access.
Four years later, Our Future Reads has partnered with over 15 nonprofit organizations and distributed around 10,000 books.
The organization reached the moment when its basement storage unit was overflowing. That led to Mission Curiosity, a brick-and-mortar storefront at 319 Madison St.
“We were thinking about how to increase our impacts, not only in terms of getting the books to other nonprofit organizations, but also just our community as well,” Taylor said.
The road to opening Mission Curiosity was not a short one, Taylor said. But throughout this process, Taylor said he never questioned his motivation because of his partners and clients.
“That’s the motivation, right? It’s something significantly larger than us as an organization, and we’re able to truly impact lives,” Taylor said.
Taylor hopes that people see Mission Curiosity as a “bright light in the neighborhood,” and encourages community members to “know that they’re supporting so many others by coming in and buying books.”
Book buyers have already started buying books at Mission Curiosity. Ashley Shropshire and Tracey Luong, who work with Youth Crossroads, a charity that Our Future Reads is partnered with, attended the grand opening on behalf of their organization.
“I think especially with technology now, I think it’s really hard for our kids to read and get a wide range of perspectives,” Luong said. “With us being able to buy those books, that’s really important for them. Especially how expensive it is now, this helps them a lot with them having access to books.”
Shropshire added that Youth Crossroads hopes to partner with Mission Curiosity over the summer by having their students volunteer at the store to “give back to (Our Future Reads) after they’ve given so many donations to us.”
The Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce was also represented. Melissa Mallison, chamber programming and membership director, said she was excited to visit Mission Curiosity on behalf of the chamber, because she believes “books are for everyone.”
“It’s their birthright to be able to share their stories, to connect with other people,” Mallison said. “I think that’s really what you know makes a community. It’s what makes us human. Connecting the mission with the local economy and the neighbors and everyone that it represents, is something that’s really distinctive.”
Mark Walden of the chamber echoed this sentiment, saying that reading was a “world-opening thing” and that he was glad that the new bookstore was a “mission-driven business.”
“This reflects the values we put on youth and education in Oak Park, as well as adding to our retail corridor and then supporting the mission of the nonprofit,” Walden said. “It feels like a win-win-win kind of thing here.”
Mission Curiosity will be selling used books for $5 each and be open on weekends, from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. With each book sold, Taylor said, he hopes he can put a smile on someone’s face.
“All the recipients of the books, if we can make them smile at least once, that’s our goal,” Taylor said. “It’s to cure the curiosity bug or spark that for people to smile, and then just for it to be an incredibly enjoyable experience.”
