By Lauren Ferguson
Everyone in the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) has probably heard of Promising Pages, maybe only by name from approving it as a Community Partner, or maybe very well from volunteering there year after year. What everyone might not know is the founder of Promising Pages, Kristina Cruise, is a JLC member and her time with the Junior League heavily influenced the development of this amazing organization.
Promising Pages is a nonprofit organization that inspires underserved children to achieve their dreams by becoming bookworms. Their mission is to provide ownership of books to underserved children and cultivate a lifelong love of reading through innovative literacy programs and partnerships. Fueled by studies showing that children who can’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school, Promising Pages provides innovative classroom programs and more than 100,000 free books annually, making them Charlotte’s largest and most efficient distributor of upcycled books aimed at addressing this critical – and solvable – community need.
Founder Kristina Cruise first joined the Junior League in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2003 and was immediately transformed through her provisional project. Her provisional class was tasked with collecting used ball gowns and accessories to host a free shopping day for girls who otherwise would not have been able to afford a dress to attend prom. It was this day and seeing the joy on the faces of the girls attending that made Kristina ask herself, “What if I can bring joy to people like this every single day?” After moving to Charlotte, transferring to the JLC, and with that thought process in mind, Kristina created Promising Pages in 2011. Fast forward to seven years after launch and Promising Pages collected more than 200,000 books last year to help the children of Charlotte, building the community through some of its youngest residents. We can all benefit from Kristina’s expertise and visionary leadership. She advises others, “If you see a problem, take it upon yourself to do something to change it. Now. Don’t wait, don’t think it’s someone else’s problem, and don’t ever think your small acts don’t matter. It matters. You matter. They matter. If we all perform small acts of good for the problems we see in our own worlds…there would be no more problems.”
On December 31, 2018, Kristina stepped down from her role as CEO to focus on herself and her family, but she will still be very involved as one of the organization’s most passionate advocates. Promising Pages is well-positioned to thrive under the continued leadership of its President Eric Law.
Learn more about Promising Pages and how they are impacting Charlotte at https://promisingpages.org/.
