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Since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast last fall, First Book has been working to help local schools, community programs and families rebuild their lost libraries.

Now, thanks to our friends at Random House, we have the resources to rebuild tens of thousands of home and classroom libraries: over one million brand-new, high-quality kid’s books.

We just need to get the word out.

Help us by sharing this blog post with anyone you know who works with children in need, and tell them to sign up with First Book today.

Recognizing the wide-ranging impact of this storm on many aspects of children’s lives, schools and programs do not have to have been physically damaged by the storm to apply for books. Any school or program that was affected by the storm or serves children in need in one of the 13 affected states is encouraged to sign up to receive books.

NOTE: The books are available to schools and programs in the 13 states designated by FEMA as being affected by Hurricane Sandy: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

The post One Million Books Available Now for Schools and Programs in States Affected by Hurricane Sandy appeared first on First Book Blog.

If you’re a teacher or program leader who works with kids in need, let us know what you think. Leave a comment below, or comment on First Book’s Facebook page.

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.