One Year Later: What’s Stirring Is Still Stirring
On September 14, we celebrate the first anniversary of What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family.
A year ago, Daniel and Alonna launched their first cookbook with a simple vision Daniel expressed this way:
“We don’t just want families to get the book. We want them to use the book.”
One year later, that vision is becoming something far bigger than a cookbook.
What began with family recipes and stories is now helping create opportunities for literacy, nutrition education, cooking, gardening, mentoring, youth leadership, and family engagement.
It Started with Children
Even before the book was released, Daniel and Alonna spent nine sessions reading aloud to kindergarten students at Dacula Elementary School.
Those children became some of their first audiences.
Daniel and Alonna did not forget them.
After the book began generating revenue, they chose to give back by donating funds to help those kindergarten students participate in a field trip.
That spirit of service has continued ever since.
Daniel and Alonna have also used proceeds from book sales to support their local 4-H Club, showing from the beginning that young people can do more than create something—they can use what they create to serve others.
From Launch Day to Community Impact
On September 14, 2025, What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family! officially entered the world.
The very next day, Daniel and Alonna took the story of the book to Lincoln University, where they shared their entrepreneurial journey in the presence of more than 80 business and entrepreneurship students.
Since then, the book and its message have traveled.
The first book also received recognition through spotlight features from Lincoln University, Vanderbilt University, and Teach for America, highlighting Daniel, Alonna, and Dr. Moore and the story behind What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family.
They have participated in a literacy festival and been recognized alongside other authors. They have shared their work at churches in Georgia and Alabama, presented at the North Macon Rotary Club, and brought hands-on cooking experiences into public libraries and community settings.
And increasingly, the conversation has moved from what they wrote to what others can learn from it.
During a Georgia Council of Teachers of English roundtable, Daniel and Alonna co-presented with Dr. Moore about their experiences as writers and shared lessons from their writing journey that other young people can use in developing their own writing.
When a Book Becomes a Learning Resource
Another important milestone came when What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family was reviewed and identified as appropriate and aligned for inclusion on Reading Is Fundamental’s Literacy Central, a free educational resource platform where educators and families can discover literacy resources.
For us, that recognition reinforces something we have believed from the beginning:
A cookbook can be more than something families read. It can become something families learn from—and learn with—together.
That idea is at the heart of Cooking Up Literacy.
Our first pilot at St. Peter Claver gave us an opportunity to begin putting the Cooking Up Literacy model into practice.
Six families who attended the pilot each received two cookbooks, and we also left two books each for four additional families who had registered but were unable to attend, for a total of 20 books designated for 10 families.
Those books were provided through The Macon Area Habitat for Humanity Sustainability Fund, which supported the literacy pilot.
College students in a teacher education program who served as facilitators also received in-kind copies to help them engage with the materials they were using alongside families.
The pilot helped demonstrate that the cookbooks could do more than sit on a shelf:
A cookbook can become a reading resource.
A recipe can become a vocabulary lesson.
An ingredient can open the door to nutrition and science.
And cooking together can become family literacy in action.
That same idea now continues through monthly Cooking Up Literacy experiences at the Gwinnett County Community Resource Center and through library-based family programs.
This Friday, the journey returns to Dacula, where families will participate in a special Digital Learning Day Cooking Up Literacy experience at the Dacula Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library.
There is something powerful about that return.
First, Daniel and Alonna read to children.
Then, they gave back to children.
Now, they are helping families read, cook, and learn together.
The Work Is Growing
This September, two new pilot initiatives begin.
At All Our Children Childcare Academy, early learners will connect literacy and nutrition through garden-based learning. Children will grow foods connected to the cookbooks, taste what they grow, and take foods home.
At Atkinson Elementary School, kindergarten scholars will strengthen phonological awareness and early reading skills through mentor-guided activities that connect literacy, nutrition, and simple cooking.
This work is supported through a Dollar General Family Literacy grant awarded to the Spalding County Collaborative for Families and Children, which serves as fiscal agent.
As part of the program, 21 families will receive three What’s Stirring cookbooks each, including the original What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family.
That means the books are not simply being distributed.
They are being placed into homes as tools families can continue using together.
One Year of Giving and Growing
During this first year:
15 families received books through in-kind support from the Hudson Foundation.
35 copies were provided to Boys & Girls Club families through support from United Bankshares.
What’s Stirring Family Foundation contributed another 35 in-kind copies to families.
At the first St. Peter Claver Cooking Up Literacy pilot, 20 books were designated for 10 registered families—six families participated in person, while books were left for four additional registered families who were unable to attend. The books were supported through The Macon Area Habitat for Humanity Sustainability Fund.
21 families in the Atkinson Elementary pilot will receive three cookbooks each through the Dollar General Family Literacy initiative.
Cooking Up Literacy has expanded into libraries, community centers, schools, and early-learning settings.
Those numbers matter.
But what matters even more is what happens after a book reaches a family.
Does a child read the recipe?
Does a family cook together?
Does a child learn a new word?
Does someone try a new food?
Does learning continue at home?
Those are the outcomes we want to keep building—and measuring.
Why Support Matters Now
The first year has shown us that What’s Stirring can be more than a book.
It can be a platform for family learning.
With additional investment, What’s Stirring Family Foundation can provide more:
books for families,
shared-reading and learning materials,
cooking and educational supplies,
garden and nutrition resources,
mentor materials,
and opportunities to bring Cooking Up Literacy into more schools, libraries, childcare programs, and communities.
For families, that means more chances to learn together.
For funders and community partners, it means investing in a model that brings literacy, nutrition, family engagement, and hands-on learning together in practical ways families can continue at home.
Still Stirring
One year ago, What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family was a newly released cookbook.
Today, it is helping inspire reading, cooking, gardening, mentoring, giving, and family learning.
And the vision remains the same:
“We don’t just want families to get the book. We want them to use the book.” — Daniel
With the help of families, educators, community partners, and future supporters, we hope many more families will have the opportunity to do exactly that.
Happy First Anniversary, What’s Stirring: Fun, Food & Family! 🎉
Read Together. Cook Together. Learn Together. Grow Together.
What’s Stirring Family Foundation
Tectonic Village, LLC
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