At Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub, we love a good story—especially when it’s about supporting our local youth. Elevating Readers Together is doing just that by ensuring every child in the Salida area has access to quality literature. Through their book vending machines and partnerships, they’re bringing books to kids and helping foster a lifelong love of reading.

Who They Are

Elevating Readers Together is on a mission to support and expand community organizations that provide youth with access to quality books. They’ve placed three book vending machines—one each at Longfellow Elementary, Salida Middle School, and Salida High School—dispensing free books to students. Their goal? To make sure each student has at least two books from these machines every school year.

What They’re Up To

Elevating Readers Together has been hard at work distributing free books to kids throughout the Salida area:

Their Longfellow Elementary machine, installed in January 2023, has already had a big impact, giving kids free books to take home.
Machines at the Middle School and High School, installed in August of 2024, have also begun to serve more students with free books.
They recently gave away nearly 200 books at the Longfellow Elementary Literacy Night, helping kids access quality literature.

It’s all about ensuring kids have the books they need to succeed—and Elevating Readers Together is leading the way.

Where the Moonlight Monday Funds Go

The funds raised during their Moonlight Monday will be used to purchase more books for their vending machines, keeping them stocked and making sure that every student has the chance to pick up a free book. Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub is proud to support this initiative, helping to put books in the hands of kids across the community, one vending machine at a time.

What’s Next for Elevating Readers Together?

Looking ahead, Elevating Readers Together is excited to continue growing their program and keeping their vending machines stocked. They regularly host community events to raise funds, including author talks and their popular Annual Adult Spelling Bee. These events help ensure they can keep providing free books to local students and expanding their reach.

How You Can Help

Want to get involved? You can help by donating money for new books or by volunteering to help stock the vending machines when books arrive. Every bit of support helps to keep this amazing program going.