How to use this Page

This week is National Volunteer Week … so be sure to take a moment to thank your friends and neighbors who volunteer their time and energy to improve the lives of the people in our communities.

First Book was founded twenty years ago on a volunteer model, and our national network of volunteers has grown ever since. Today, there are over 1,000 First Book volunteers in over 160 communities across the country, and we’re adding more all the time. First Book volunteers raise money to provide new books to local schools and programs serving kids from low-income families, and they help First Book’s national offices identify more schools and programs that need our help.

We’ve put a lot of new books into the hands of a lot of children in need in the last twenty years, and we couldn’t have done it without our volunteers. Thank you!

Click here to learn more about volunteering with First Book.

Add a Comment

Last week First Book  distributed close to 1 million books in Seattle, Washington and  Minneapolis, Minnesota. This week, we have a team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin distributing 420,000 books to programs and schools that serve kids in need. Of those 420,000 books, more than 100,000 will be distributed locally throughout the Southeastern Wisconsin area.

To make this distribution possible, New Threads of Hope is donating warehouse space and assistance with logistics, and M&I employees are serving as volunteers, assisting with the packing, shipping and pick up of books throughout the week.

We are incredibly grateful for all of the volunteers and support that we have had over the past couple of weeks. Thanks to the help of of our many volunteers and partners,  we are well on our way to distributing 1.2 million books in just 10 days!

Want to learn more? Click here to sign up for our newsletter and we’ll send you photos, video and information about how you can help get books to kids in need. 

Add a Comment

Recently, First Book promised to distribute one million brand-new books to kids in need across the country in just ten days.

Those ten days are up, and we are as good as our word. Better, even … altogether we distributed a little over 1.2 million books to the schools and programs in our national network. Woot!

25,000 of those books went to kids at Title I schools across Montana. Heather Denny, a Title I specialist in Montana who was instrumental in helping First Book distribute the books at a statewide conference of Title I teachers, emailed us this morning to tell us how excited her colleagues were.

“It was amazing!” she wrote. “You should have seen the smiles on our teacher’s faces. We had a retiring teacher who worked in the book room all day because she wanted to see the young teachers coming in and leaving with boxes of books.”

If that doesn’t warm your heart, you are made of sterner stuff than we are.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, from the hard-working volunteers who spent long, tiring days in warehouses to the generous publishers who provided the books to our nonprofit and corporate partners who provide the support needed, and especially to all the teachers and local program leaders who take these books and use them to turn kids into readers.

Want to get involved in our next amazing book distribution? Click here to sign up for our newsletter and we’ll send you monthly emails sharing stories and letting you know how you can get involved in your community.

Add a Comment

The First Book team just got back from Brattleboro, Vermont, where we distributed 350,000 brand-new books to kids in need. About 100,000 of those books went to local teachers and community leaders, and the rest were shipped out to schools and programs serving kids from low-income families across the country.

The books were donated by our friends at Disney Publishing Worldwide, and included quite a few fairy and princess titles.

“There were four of us, and we worked, worked, and worked,” said Katie Niersbach, who led the team in Vermont. “Fairy books are HEAVY.”

The distribution was made possible thanks to the support of the Vermont Foodbank, who provided warehouse space and volunteers, and also received a large number of books to distribute to the children served by their centers throughout the state.

Also richly-deserving of our thanks is Carolyn Appleton, a Vermont teacher and community activist who signed up over 80 new programs to help them get books from First Book and fed our staff and volunteers ice cream. (She’s also the mother of one of our staffers, but that only makes us love her more.)

So a big ‘thank you’ to Carolyn and to all our friends at Disney and the Vermont Foodbank, and an even bigger thanks to all the educators – in Vermont and everywhere else – who go the extra mile every day to turn their kids into readers.

Add a Comment

Library volunteers come in all ages, and they do everything from shelving DVDs to holding book sales.  It takes time to train and manage them, but the pay-off is vast.

We’ve had an amazing volunteer program at our library for over 20 years.  The idea is simple – we train adult volunteers to share books and stories with kids at the library.  First called “Grandparents and Books” because our volunteers were older adults, it later became just GAB when we began welcoming younger adults as well.  This July 1st, we’re changing the name again – to Storytelling and Reading, or STAR – so that the theme of the program will be more immediately apparent.

Whatever the name, it has been a spectacularly successful program, and this is due almost entirely to the enthusiasm and passion of our volunteers, many of whom have been with us for 5, 10 and even 15 years.  Every year we ask our 200+ volunteers to fill out a survey – and every year I’m struck anew at their dedication as I read their comments and suggestions.  Here are what volunteers have to say in this year’s surveys, which are still coming in daily.

They see the STAR program as a way to introduce kids to the joy of books, reading and libraries, saying:

“I think children see the pleasure that the reader… takes in reading the books and that pleasure is contagious.” (Susan D., age 63)

“(The program) helps children to read at their own level and they are not pressured.” (Ernestine S., age 84)

“Even the very little ones love to hear a story and point to objects on the pages.” (Carolyn Z., age 78)

“It is very rewarding to see the growth in both interpersonal skills and participation skills of the children… I have often heard from the parents that they are getting the personal attention and interaction time at the GAB storytime that they don’t get at school.”  (Donna G, age 63)

“GAB introduces children to reading in a fun way… There are no rules or requirements – kids get to choose the books they want to read, purely for pleasure and entertainment.” Maria F, age 27)

The volunteers also feel that they are participating in an activity that makes a difference in their communities and is rewarding and fun in itself.

“It’s my playtime… The children are radiant and open to  new adventures.” (Irving H., age 92)

“The experience of having worked as a GAB volunteer has brought an immense sense of fulfillment and accomplishment.” (Lloyd L., age 70)

“I give my heart and soul to my reading with the children.” (Cindy W.)

“It is so rewarding to give back to my community by helping tomorrow’s leaders learn to love reading.” (Florence B.)

“I just turned 80 years old; working with children has always been a part of my life and is now an essential to keeping me young, alert, and alive.” (Barbara A., age 80)

They also comment frequently on the helpfulness and friendliness of library staff.  Any less than positive comments tend to have to do with a lack of kids during their volunteer shift or with the necessity of competing with those ubiquitous library computers.

What is clear is that this program – as with all good library volunteer programs – is important for several reasons.

First, it provides a vital literacy service for the children and families in our communities by offering fun, one-on-one reading time with a caring, safe adult at the library (and yes, we do carefully screen and train our volunteers).

Second, and just as important, it offers a service to adults in our communities by offering a way for them to give back to their communities by sharing their passion for reading and their respect for children.

And third, as you could tell from that tiny sample of comments,

Add a Comment

“What a great program today! The smiles on the children’s faces when they received their books; the excitement they had getting the First Book shirts, and how proud they were wearing them; seeing the enthusiasm of the volunteers reading to the students … Thank you for the program and putting more books in our children’s hands.” — MaryAnn Amato , VTCS teacher

Last week, First Book staffers went to visit Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School (VTCS) in Bethlehem, Pa., where each student received three brand-new books of their own. VTCS also received a $1,000 credit for the First Book Marketplace to fill the shelves of their library.

VTCS is one of 60 schools and programs in the Lehigh Valley serving low-income children that received grants. Altogether, 10,000 new books will go to Lehigh Valley schools, all paid for through the grants (made possible by our friends at C&S Wholesale Grocers).

The First Book team had a great time with the kids from VTCS, and so did all the local C&S Wholesale Grocers employees who showed up. We even made the news.

Add a Comment

First Book’s National Book Bank team just got home from Pittsburgh, where they boxed, labeled and shipped 400,000 books to kids in need all over the country, from Jacksonville to Santa Monica.

That’s a whole lot of books – five tractor-trailers full, to put it in perspective. The books all came from Disney Publishing Worldwide, and included some great titles, like ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’, ‘The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks’, ‘Caterpillar’s Springtime Day’, and books starring characters beloved by many children, like Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse and Hannah Montana.

Shipping that many books in less than a week is a big job, and we couldn’t possibly have done it without the help of some great friends who came out to lend a hand. Volunteers like the local high school Key Club, college students, a Girl Scout troop (they were amazing on sticker duty) and service-minded individuals of all stripes. Not to mention the team from a local KPMG office, whose accounting skills were put to excellent use. KPMG is a major supporter of First Book, and we can always count on their local offices to help us out.

And, perhaps most importantly, our hosts at World Vision, a truly inspirational organization that provides badly-needed resources to children and families in the United States and around the world who have been victims of natural disasters, famine, war and disease. Because First Book has no warehouses, we rely on donated space to temporarily house the books donated to us by generous publishers, and World Vision stepped up to help out in Pittsburgh. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer, friendlier, more helpful bunch of people to work with.

The best part of our book distributions, though, is getting to meet some of the local schools and programs who take our books back to the children that they serve. They always thank us when we fill their trucks and station wagons with cartons of new books, but we tell them that they’re the ones who deserve the thanks. It’s a privilege to help them in the heroic work that they do to each and every day.

So hats off to Pittsburgh. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Add a Comment

Our friends at First Book Canada just wrapped up the largest book distribution in their three-year history, distributing 30,000 books to children from low-income homes in the city of Calgary and across the province of Alberta.

Like First Book in the U.S., First Book Canada relies on the generosity of partners and neighbors to get books to kids in need. NeighbourLink Calgary hosted the distribution in their warehouse, and volunteers from Pi Beta Phi, Calgary Youth Corps and the local community came out to help ship and load boxes of books bound for classrooms, libraries and homes across the province of Alberta.

You can learn more about First Book Canada at their website, or keep up with their latest news on Twitter.

“Please accept my personal thanks to you and First Book Canada for its generous donation of books, in support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary. It is people like you that enable us to continue building upon our shared ideals for growth in our communities through advocacy, leadership and engagement of over 42,000 children, youth and families.”
– Cheryl Doherty, Executive Director, Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary

“On behalf of Further Education Society’s learners, board members and staff, we would like to thank you and First Book Canada for your support. With your support we can strengthen communities, families and individuals through literacy and learning. Thank you for your community spirit.”
– Sue Phillips, Co-Executive Director, Further Education Society

“I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the amazing donation of books from First Book Canada to Catholic Family Service of Calgary. The developmentally appropriate books for boys and girls ages 9–12 will support children and families in a number of our programs. Thank you once again for caring and wanting to make a difference in childhood literacy.”
– Greg Campbell, Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Family Service of Calgary

Add a Comment

Tuesday marks the first day of summer, and to celebrate their annual Day of Action, the United Way will be marshaling an army of volunteers to assemble summer reading backpacks for 50,000 elementary school kids from low-income communities.

First Book is proud to be a part of this amazing event, and we’re bringing our favorite thing to the party – books.
Every backpack will contain three brand-new books that the children who receive them will be able to keep. Many children from low-income families have no books of their own at home, so we’re grateful to have the opportunity to change that for so many kids.

If you’re out of school for the summer, or you’re able to take the day off work, we’d love to see you! Volunteers are welcome. Go online to learn more and register.

See you on the mall!

Add a Comment

Today is not only the official first day of summer, it’s also National Summer Learning Day. First Book couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by bringing 150,000 brand-new books to the National Mall to stuff into backpacks going to children in need all over the country.

The nation’s capitol is having a stretch of lovely weather this week, so our staff is joining the United Way and their army of volunteers to make this happen.

Summer is a great time of the year for readers. Instead of reading what you were told to read, you get to read whatever you want. And, if you’re lucky, you get to sit on the beach, reading and getting sunburned.

But for lots of kids, summer isn’t a time for reading. And that’s not so great, because there is a very real drop-off in achievement for kids from low-income homes. This gap puts them even further behind their more fortunate classmates, leading directly to lower test scores, lower rates of graduation and lower chances of going to college or finding good jobs.

But you can help turn it around! Visit our friends at the National Summer Learning Association to find out ways to help kids in your life, and if there’s a school or community program near you that serves kids from low-income neighborhoods, reach out to a librarian, reading teacher or program leader and tell them about First Book. Once they register with us, we can ensure they have a steady stream of new books, this summer and throughout the year.

Add a Comment

First Book was in Milwaukee last week, getting books to kids. We’ve been on the road a lot this summer; we try to spread our massive book distributions across the country so that schools and programs that can’t afford the shipping costs for the free books can still get what they need for the kids that they serve.

We are very happy with our books. We have had to stop getting them if we have to pay for shipping because there is no money in our budget. I have looked for grants to pay for books, but so far in vain. These will last us for a while. Thank you!

Lynn Flynn, PADS Crisis Services, Inc., Chicago

It was as hot in Milwaukee as it has been everywhere, we are sorry to report, but despite the heat we managed to get over 400,000 books distributed, almost a quarter of those to programs in Wisconsin and nearby areas.

As always, we got the chance to meet lots of amazing people:

• the men and woman who work with kids in need every day
• the hard-working volunteers that lug boxes and load station wagons with books
• the partners – like NewThreads of Hope – who loan us the warehouses
• and the publishers – like Disney Publishing Worldwide – who provide the books.

It takes a lot of people to make these book distributions possible, and we are grateful. We’re also grateful to the fine people of Milwaukee for having us. Go Bucks!

Add a Comment

Dearest amazing First Book friends!

Your efforts to break the chains that hold children back is so inspiring. My organization, Gift A Book Foundation, is so happy to be a member of First Book!! A simple thank you surely doesn’t seen adequate.

First Book’s work lives on in the lives of children who would otherwise be forgotten.

Blessings & Peace,
Paulette Greenfield
Gift A Book Foundation

You can learn more about the Gift A Book Foundation and the amazing work they do here.

We can’t tell you how satisfying it is help people like Paulette make a difference in the lives of the children she serves. Join us!

Add a Comment

Thanks to my daily dose of Shelf Awareness, I learned of the most lovable project to increase communities' access to books, Little Free Libraries.  These are small dropboxes that hold up to a dozen books.  They are designed to be attractive works of art in themselves and normal people, like you and me, are encouraged to build them, get permission to install them in public places and keep them stocked with books.  The suggestion is that anyone can take and/or add a book.  Look at the picture.  Isn't that little box inviting?

They won't take the place of public libraries but they sure look like a lot of fun.  Maybe, just maybe, public libraries could install a few of them as public services to the farthest reaches of their service areas.  Just a thought.

Well, I just finished the second day of the Storytelling Workshop that I am running for the Parkland Community Library.  I must give a HUGE shout-out to the volunteers who keep an eye on the kids as I run around "dealing" with popcorn shortages and finding where I put things - sigh.  Big thanks go to Robin R., Jeannie Kuttruff, Caroline Harakal, Emily Stein, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Erik N. and Katie M.  (People under 18 don't get their last names in, just in case.)  Raj S. was a big help yesterday and I hope to see him during the rest of the week.

I am always impressed when young people are more level-headed and organized than I am.  (Hmmm, that doesn't really seem to be a huge challenge, though.) So I truly have appreciated Katie M. who has made sure all the children are signed in and out and Emily Stein who is excellent at getting things cleaned up and sorted.  Caroline and Jeannie are my craft mavens.  Robin has an endless supply of games to keep the kids moving.  Erik and Kelly, my longest running Teen Tellers right now, keep the kids engaged, amused and charged up!

When working with this many children - only 17 this year - having three volunteers on hand at any time is a plus.  I doubt the workshop would run as smoothly - or at all - without them.

Stay tuned.  Erik took some video footage today.  I will post the videos and some photos when I have time.

Add a Comment

“Our kids don’t get to have dreams, aspirations, hopes. They can’t even think about college; it’s not in their minds. That’s why these books are so important. Books are the beginning of everything. You learn about other places, you learn about the world.”

– Angela Fedele of the WE CAN Program, a statewide program based in Princeton, W.Va., that provides volunteer mentors for at-risk kids

Angela Fedele is one of the many teachers and program leaders who spend their days doing everything they can to help West Virginia’s kids. At First Book, our mission is to do everything we can to help people like Angela.

By signing up with First Book, Angela was able to provide $3,000 worth of new books for the children in her program, thanks to a combination of grant money and support from local First Book volunteers.

First Book works with programs across the country, but we have a special place in our hearts for West Virginia. We’ve provided 294,228 brand-new books to children in need across the state, and plan to distribute 14,000 more by the end of the summer, thanks in part to a federal grant from the Department of Education.

In addition, we’re launching a new partnership with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to ensure that more kids have the books and resources they need. We’ll be announcing more details about this partnership soon, but we had a great kick-off last week in Charleston. Together with our friends at the AFT, we provided new books, along with grants to purchase more, to two local schools – West Side Elementary and Stonewall Jackson Middle School.

Help us get the word out, West Virginia! If you work for a school or program that serves children from low-income families, or if you’d like to help your child’s teacher or program leader get new books, sign up with First Book. And if you’d like to join one of our local volunteer groups, we’d love to hear from you.

Add a Comment

Yesterday we went to Nashville and picked up 50 cases of books for our organization that serves special needs and will be delivering them tomorrow at our basketball signups.

This is going to be such an amazing thing for these special children and I can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces when they get an early Christmas present of these wonderful books.

Rick Ryan
Challenged Athletes Playing Equally (C.A.P.E.)
Murfreesboro, TN
www.capetn.org

I just can’t believe all the books I got this morning!!!  I do believe I got everything I asked for and more. We know that doesn’t often happen in this game of life.   I’ve gotten books before, but never like  this.  I thank you for offering this opportunity and look forward to some great book clubs and organizing a book give away with our kids at Warner.  We’d love to have you back in Nashville anytime!

On behalf of the students and teachers at Warner….thanks so much!
 
Mona Bruey
Library Media Specialist
Warner Enhanced Option School
Nashville, Tenn.

One of the ways First Book gets new books into the hands of children from low-income families is through the National Book Bank. Publishers donate new books to First Book, and we distribute them to schools and programs around the country.

Our publishing partners have been even more generous than usual lately, so our National Book Bank team is working overtime, traveling to donated warehouse spaces from coast to coast.

Book distributions are one of our favorite things – we get to meet the teachers and program leaders, hear about the kids they work with, and load up their cars (and trucks and school-buses and even horse trailers) with boxes of new books.

But they are exhausting – a week of 12-hour days spent moving more boxes than you can imagine. Our staff and volunteers give it their all, especially our National Book Bank managers, Katie and Anna, who are in Nashville and St. Joseph, Mo. this week, and traveling (without so much as a day off) to St. Louis and Casa Grande, Ariz.

So thank you to all the amazing local volunteers that show up at warehouses to help get these books to where they need to go, and thank you to all the hard-working educators and community leaders who make sure every book gets into the hands of a child who will take it home and read it again and again.

PS – If you’re on Twitter, drop Anna (@AnnaInTheCity) and Katie (@IAmNotNancy) a note and tell them to keep up the good work!

Add a Comment

“Our kids don’t get to have dreams, aspirations, hopes. They can’t even think about college; it’s not in their minds. That’s why these books are so important. Books are the beginning of everything. You learn about other places, you learn about the world.”

– Angela Fedele of the WE CAN Program, a statewide program based in Princeton, W.Va., that provides volunteer mentors for at-risk kids

McDowell County, West Virginia, home to about 22,000 people, is one of the poorest counties in the state, and ranked last in education. Which is why First Book has joined a coalition of businesses, labor unions and nonprofits – more than 40 local, state and national groups altogether – who are working to change that.

For our part, First Book has pledged to provide a brand-new book to every student in McDowell County, books chosen by the local teachers and program leaders who work with the kids. And that’s just the beginning: We distributed 300,000 brand-new books in West Virginia in the last few years, and we’re working with almost 500 local classrooms and programs across the state. Every one of those kids is connected to an ongoing supply of new books through First Book.

“We’re here today because we want to level the educational playing field,” said Chandler Arnold, First Book’s executive vice-president, speaking yesterday at the kickoff ceremony in Charleston. “We want to ensure that the children of McDowell County have access to a steady supply of top-notch books and educational resources.”

Lean more about the project, led by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), at Reconnecting McDowell.

Help us get the word out, West Virginia! If you work for a school or program that serves children from low-income families, or if you’d like to help your child’s teacher or program leader get new books, sign up with First Book. And if you’d like to join one of our local volunteer groups, we’d love to hear from you.

Add a Comment