It’s a love story. And a tax story.

By Joy Diaz

Lynn Wolheim lives in the small hill country town of Castell, Texas. Castell is in Llano County, but borders Mason County as well.

“Population 12,” she tells me. Since I couldn’t find any census data for Castell, I’ll take Wolheim’s word for it. Her house is one of only a handful in the town. The volunteer fire station is one of the tallest buildings around, along with the local store and the post office that closes at 11:00 am each day.

Wolheim is a former Austin ISD teacher, now retired. For more than 30 years, she taught kids how to read. Teaching someone how to read is a gift very much akin to a miracle because in order to read, our brains must create neurological pathways that didn’t exist before.

As Wolheim scratches the head of her beloved dog “Lola,” she says “books open up our world and enrich our lives.“

That’s why when she learned that BookSpring gives books to children all over Texas, she knew this was the place where some of her retirement money could do the most good. It’s a gift of love that will pay for children in Mason and Llano counties to receive books mailed to their homes through BookSpring’s Books Beginning at Birth program and to receive books given away at their schools or libraries through the Books For Me program.

“A lot of kids around here don’t have any books,” Wolheim says, “and I would like them to become readers and life-long-learners.”

Wolheim’s gift has the potential to change many lives. And, it carries a tax benefit.

Lindsey Stuart – former BookSpring board president and an investment advisor with Stuart Investment Advisors – encourages people in their 70s who have a philanthropic intent, to give to non-profits. She actually says this is what “giving with intention” should look like. Stuart also says, “it’s the most tax efficient” thing one can do. Because the money people have in retirement accounts is money that has never been taxed. At a certain age, the government requires some of the money to be taken out of retirement accounts to be taxed as though it were income.

But, you know what doesn’t count as income?

Money given to qualified 501(c)(3)’s such as BookSpring.

So, yes, this is a story about taxes.

But, how often do you read a story about taxes that ends up being a story about the magic that is created when children start decoding the secret messages guarded in between the pages of a great book?

LYNN: “[Castell] is in Llano County but it is very close to Mason County. And a lot of the people that come to the store in town – in Castell – are from either Mason or Llano. That’s why I want the books to go to the children here. A lot of kids around here don’t have any books or are so into technological things and I would like them to become readers and life long learners as far as books go besides what they can get from the internet.”

JOY: “So, for people who don’t know what Llano County looks like, tell us about book access.”

LYNN: “Well, there is a wonderful public library in Kingsland. There’s one in Cannon Dam and there’s one in Llano. I think those are the only three. And the public libraries are wonderful but you can only get the books for a week and bring it back. And it’s nice having your own library at home so you can reach for a book and read it and re-read it and keep adding to it and learn about new things and become excited about learning through reading.”

JOY: “Lynn, I think what you are doing is very generous but I’m sure you have an idea or a dream of what you want that money to do. What is your dream for that?”

LYNN: “I’d love for children to have their own library at home. And to get books – I don’t know how many times a year – but several times a year, hopefully. If they can keep, they can choose, and pick something that interests them or pick something that they don’t know nothing about that they’d like to learn about and have it in their bedroom or their living room or whatever and it’s theirs and they own it, it belongs to them. And they can cherish it and learn more about life through reading.”

To learn more about supporting BookSpring’s mission of igniting a love of reading in children across Texas, please visit https://bookspring.org/en/support/.