The Sophie Fund’s 2026 Cupcake Button fundraiser is live! Each October, we coordinate with college student organizations to collect donations for local nonprofits focused on community well-being.

This year’s campaign is raising funds for the Family Reading Partnership, which connects families with young children to the joy of books and read-aloud experiences to expand their horizons and support their literacy journey. It strives to develop in all children a love of books and strong language skills before beginning school.

Bevi Wallenstein, Outreach Coordinator, and Amber Smith, Executive Director

The organization’s home base is The Nook in the Shops at Ithaca Mall. It operates several programs that together reach all families with children under age 5 in Tompkins County.

“We believe, and research confirms, that literacy skills begin growing before birth,” said Partnership Executive Director Amber Smith. “As with all early childhood development, literacy is best built through early and frequent interactions with responsive adults.”

Smith said that playful games of peek-a-boo and itsy-bitsy spider do more to grow the young brain than flash cards and memorizing the names of colors. “Reading together is an incredible tool for introducing vocabulary, growing a broad worldview, and bonding with a loving adult,” she explained.

DONATE TO THE FAMILY READING PARTNERSHIP

FRP provides families with quality children’s books free of charge to build their own home libraries, a tool for frequent interaction between young children and their caregivers in building literacy skills. The books are available at The Nook’s Bright Red Bookshelf as well as in dozens of other community locations within easy reach.

The Nook is a community hub of activity and resources where local families engage with their infants and toddlers and with each other. The tech-free space is designed to encourage imaginative play, physical development, and emotional regulation via exploration with toys, books, and art materials.

Parents can also take their kids on Story Walks through Tompkins County parks hosted by FRP.

The Partnership runs a weekly New Parent Support Group with a perinatal mental health specialist to build confidence and community, and to combat the common isolation and depression that many infant caregivers experience in the first year of a baby’s life.

The space hosts Early Intervention therapy sessions, which provides supports and services for infants and young children who have developmental delays or disabilities. The Nook is also a space for parents lacking custodial rights to spend time with their children in a supervised setting.

FRP was founded in the late 1990’s as a coalition of individuals and agencies who cared deeply about ensuring that all children in our community were exposed to books and read aloud to from the very beginning. Originally housed under the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) umbrella, FRP received nonprofit status in 2001 and has given away over half a million books to children over the last 25 years.

The Partnership is funded by hundreds of generous community members, corporate sponsors, and foundations such as the Community Foundation of Tompkins County, Triad Foundation, and the United Way of Tompkins County.

Volunteer with FRP: Fill out an online form here.

Donate Books to FRP: Go to: https://www.familyreading.org/get-involved/give-books/

For the Cupcake Button fundraising campaign, The Sophie Fund coordinates with college students to raise money through various in-person activities (and provide donors with Cupcake Buttons) on campus and in the community.

Community members may also contribute to the campaign directly through the Family Reading Partnership’s donation page here.

Since 2017 the Cupcake Button campaigns have raised about $9,000 for organizations including: Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; Village at Ithaca; The Learning Web; National Alliance on Mental Illness–Finger Lakes; Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca; Ithaca Free Clinic; and Ithaca Welcomes Refugees.

This year’s Cupcake Button campaign is supported by many student organizations, including Cornell University’s Cornell Circle K, Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health (PATCH), Alpha Phi Omega–Gamma Chapter, Realizing Integration, Support, and Support for Underserved Populations at Cornell (RISEUP), and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Donors receive a Cupcake Button featuring the image of a cupcake created by Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell art student who died by suicide in 2016 for whom The Sophie Fund is named.

For more information about The Sophie Fund, go to: www.thesophiefund.org