Heroes Among Us: Richmond teen distributes 2,000 books

Two years ago, Richmond teenager Courtlyn Hoover had a dream.

“I knew I wanted to compete for Miss Danville Teen, which is a local preliminary for Miss Kentucky Teen, and I needed to develop a service initiative, and that when Love Through Literacy was born," says Courtlyn. “I reached out to a local elementary school that was getting rid of old books to bring in new ones and they donated over 2,000 of them to me, so I was able to distribute them.”

And that has meant a major commitment from Courtlyn and her family. She says she has traveled 6,000 miles and made 60 appearances, all in the name of encouraging literacy among kids in the Commonwealth.

“I’ve always had a deep passion for reading and I started with my passion for reading at the Dolly Parton Imagine Library when I was younger and so I always knew that I wanted to give back.”

But Courtlyn didn’t stop there. Earlier this year, she had a children’s book published. Proceeds from “Princess Sophie and The Very Dreadful Silent Reading Time” will go back to her initiative.

“Lots of my friends growing up didn’t like reading because they didn’t understand the importance of it. And so that’s what the character Princess Sophie goes through. She really hates reading because she doesn’t understand its importance and so her teacher guides her and her class and teaches them how important it is and then she falls in love with it," she says.

Courtlyn plans to compete in future pageants, but – win or lose – she says she will always be a champion for literacy.

“The Love For Literacy project has really taken me by surprise and really developed such a big love and impact in my life and so I really want to continue promoting that.”