In this episode of The S-Files, we are exploring the service done by Analena Peterson, who was one of the honorees recognized as Volunteer of the Year at the 2025 Governor’s Service Awards. Analena discusses how after struggling with reading when she was a younger student, she learned to love reading and wanted to provide books for other children to help them develop their own passion for reading. She describes how her volunteer efforts grew from donating books to local Little Free Libraries and a few nonprofit organizations to collecting, sorting, and donating over 25,000 books and opening more than twenty of her own Little Free Libraries throughout Wisconsin and in a few other states before graduating high school this May. Analena discusses how the connections she has made through participating in pageants has expanded her ability to open up more Little Free Libraries across the state. She also shares about volunteering to assist numerous non-literary collection drives with organizations like the Volunteer Center of Washington County. Listen to learn how she plans to continue her volunteer efforts as she prepares to start college this fall while running track as a student athlete, including creating her own nonprofit organization to help support her philanthropic efforts in the future.
What is The S-Files?
Welcome to The S-Files, which is sponsored by Serve Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s National and Community Service Board. The S-Files is your look into the impacts and stories of AmeriCorps members and volunteers serving throughout the State of Wisconsin. In each episode, we will be digging into their Service Stories, or S-Files, to learn about the people and programs whose service is meeting critical needs across Wisconsin and enriching the lives of the people and communities they serve.