Reading Huddle

Former Longhorn and pro football star transforms reading spaces in AISD

Derrick Johnson of Defend the Dream reading in a Discovery Den

The Discovery Den at Oak Springs Elementary School is the 17th by the Defend the Dream Foundation, but the first in Austin.

Photo courtesy of Defend the Dream

There’s much to discover at the library, and now Austin Independent School District kids are getting a specially dedicated space, thanks to the Defend the Dream Foundation.

Derrick Johnson, a former Texas Longhorn who played with the Kansas City Chiefs and garnered prestige in both positions, started Defend the Dream in 2012 to connect low-income and inner city youths with better resources and opportunities. He moved back to Austin in 2019, and committed to supporting the nonprofit even further.

On September 15, the foundation will present Austin’s first Discovery Den to Oak Springs Elementary School in East Austin near Airport Boulevard. Defend the Dream has been installing Discovery Dens in other schools for years, transforming school library spaces into well-stocked, football-themed reading areas with bright colors and lots of seating.

The low-tech, low-convolution goal is to create a comfortable and engaging space to encourage reading. In this case, it’s nearly $58,000 of donations for a “multi-functional space,” with donated furniture, bookshelves, and new flooring. In addition to a more exciting atmosphere, this donation covers more than 1,000 new books, selected for diversity, in an effort to modernize the current library selection.

In April of 2022, Defend the Dream announced a partnership with Horns with Heart, another nonprofit that uses the social and media pull of University of Texas student-athletes to promote community outreach and charity. The latter organization will help build the dens and assign reading ambassadors to keep up the activity.

“When I moved back to Austin a few years ago, I wanted to continue my work with Defend the Dream and help those in need be able to reach their full potential,” said Johnson in the April press release. “Partnering with an organization that supports my Alma Mater, UT, was a no brainer. Horns With Heart really pinpoints the heart of what I believe in - people helping others in their own community.”

Defend the Dream will continue with similar projects across the district after the Oak Springs Discovery Den is handed off on September 15, from 9 am to 10 am. More information about Defend the Dream is available at derrickjohnsonfoundation.org.

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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