Jonathan Platt ’96 is the founder and executive director of Story Chain, a Greene county based nonprofit whose goal is, in Platt’s words, “Connecting children with their parents through the joy of literature.”

Platt is pictured along with Antiochians Felicia Chappelle ’91 (who volunteers for Story Chain) and Mary Evans ’20  (lead audio editor and program manager at Story Chain) in a recent article published by Fairborn Daily Herald.

Story Chain originated to connect the incarcerated with their children through community outreach, literacy intervention, and audio technology. Using the knowledge of social and restorative justice and family literacy, trained volunteers produce audio files from incarcerated parents who want to read to their children. Story Chain has a mobile 200-book library cabinet stationed at Greene County Adult Detention Center which permits inmates to sign up for the program while in jail and select the book they wish to read for their child themselves. The recording is then edited and downloaded on an MP3 player for the child and the caregiver to receive. Usually the exchange happens at the local library nearest to the caregiver.

Recently Story Chain has been working with the Greene County Board of Developmental Disabilities (GCBDD) to expand the program to children with disabilities. Dee Yoakim, who enrolled in Story Chain, said:

“What a gift to give somebody … to have a book right there at their ears — whether it’s in their hands or not — to listen to and enjoy, to put the mind at ease. The world stops for just a little bit and you can go somewhere else to think of something positive or pleasant.”

Visit Fairborn Daily Herald to read the article.

Antiochians Felicia Chappelle ’91 (second from left), Jonathan Platt ’96 (third from left), and Mary Evans ’20 (second from right)