Local nonprofit installs book vending machine at Langston Hughes Middle

By Kaydence Smith, Staff Writer

An LHMS middle school student operates the book vending machine at its ribbon cutting. Photo by Isadora Guerreiro

A new kind of vending machine in Reston dispenses books instead of snacks.

The RoSigle Foundation, a local nonprofit, recently installed a book vending machine at Langston Hughes Middle School, giving students a fun and engaging way to access free reading material. The initiative supports the organization’s broader mission to promote literacy and educational equity.

Two couples, Andy and Kim Sigle and Dianne and Kurt Rose, founded the organization and share a passion for education and reading. Their backgrounds include librarianship and early childhood education. After learning Reston was not enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which mails free books each month to children from birth to age 5, they stepped in to bring the program to the community.

The founders cover all administrative and personal costs, allowing every donation to support literacy programs directly.

Photo by Isadora Guerreiro

The nonprofit serves multiple age groups and focuses on building a strong foundation in reading. It helps families enroll in the Imagination Library and has distributed more than 26,000 books since launching locally. The program now reaches about 1,000 children in the Reston area.

As the program grew, organizers identified a gap among middle school students, who often prove harder to engage in reading. They developed the book vending machine to address that need.

Students “purchase” books using tokens they earn through positive behavior, academic effort or other school-based incentives. At the unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony, students gathered around to watch the first few books get dispensed from the machine, starting with the student who designed the artwork on the outside of the machine.

“We wanted something that is exciting for them,” Kim Sigle said. “Book ownership is one of the predictors of academic success. That’s why we’re trying to get books into kids’ hands.”

The project drew strong community involvement. A local creative team repurposed a traditional vending machine into a customized book dispenser, and students designed its exterior through an art contest.

Librarian Kim Sigle curates the book selection and updates it regularly to reflect student interests and school initiatives. The foundation sources many books from local businesses such as Scrawl Books.

The Langston Hughes machine marks the start of a broader effort. The foundation plans to install additional machines in area elementary schools, with designs tailored to younger readers and larger picture books.

Beyond the vending machines, RoSigle distributes books at Reston summer camps, maintains a Little Free Library at George Mason Center for Mental Health, supplies books to food pantries and supports programs such as MathCounts.

Community members can support the foundation through donations that fund book purchases and program expansion. Even small contributions can make a difference.

The RoSigle Foundation shows how a simple idea can create lasting impact, one book at a time. For more information, visit rosigle.org/