O’Neill Middle School in Downers Grove has been awarded a $2,000 Feed Your Need Grant from the AISLE/LBSS Endowment Fund, one of only 26 schools in Illinois to receive this competitive, statewide award, which provides funding exclusively for the purchase of books and e-books.

The grant will be used to enhance O’Neill’s world language library collection, supporting students in the dual language program, current foreign language learners and multilingual students who read in other languages.

As O’Neill’s diverse student population continues to grow, these funds will help the school purchase books in a variety of languages so that multilingual learners can strengthen their native language skills and celebrate their cultural identities.

The expanded collection will also foster a love of reading and support literacy development, offering students more choices for nonfiction, academic and recreational reading—promoting inclusion and engagement for all learners.

“Each year we have students who come to the middle school who speak and read languages other than English,” O’Neill librarian Tasha Squires said in a news release. “In just the last two years, O’Neill has had students who read Mongolian, Farsi, traditional Chinese, French, Uzbek, Ukrainian and Spanish. The more books I have in students’ native languages, the more I can support their learning overall.”

“We are so grateful to Mrs. Squires for applying for this grant because it will allow the library to provide more inclusive, diverse, and curriculum-aligned materials for our students,” O’Neill principal Lauryn Humphris said in the release. “This award reflects the evolving language needs of our school community and our ongoing commitment to supporting every learner.”

For more information about the Feed Your Need Grant and the LBSS Endowment Fund, visit lbssfund.org. For more information about Downers Grove Grade School District 58 or O’Neill Middle School, visit dg58.org.