Many thanks to Lavinia, Caroline and Joanne of Brighter Lives For Kids Foundation for providing us with some great kid's books for distribution throughout the Bridgeport schools.
SOS for school library books!
Please meet Maureen D'Ascanio, Barnum School's Librarian. She maintains a gorgeous library space and loves to have great books for their 633 K-8th grade students. Unfortunately, there is no budget for libraries in Bridgeport and she could really use some help filling their shelves. If you look closely at the shelf that houses their total selection on animals, you will see that the books are in tatters.
They could use some fun novels and graphic novels for the kids, recent biographies, books on landforms, anything on animals, and some ‘how to draw’ books.
Busy Delivery Days are Great
Had a busy day Thursday delivering books for Madison School, Precious Memories, Dunbar's Family Resource Center, The Baptist Church's Health Fair and Barnum School.
At Barnum, loved to see the skateboard parking lot in Officer Jackie's office. She keeps an eye on them for all the kids who commute by board. Also got a chance to meet Principal Amy Marshall who joined the school in 2018.
The Skateboard parking lot
Officer Jackie
Barnum’s Principal Marshall and Julio Reinoso
Newfield's English Language Learner's Program
We were very happy to provide books last week to the English Language Learners program at Newfield School in Stamford. 55 kids were able to choose books to take home from their Family Breakfast and Workshop. Major kudos to Lisa Pomerance and Jennifer Jehle who organized the event and provided us with these great pictures. You can learn more about this excellent program for immigrants at their site
I love it when the stars align!
Cornelia Salvi
When we were visiting Luis Munoz Marin school in Bridgeport, we met Cornelia Salvi, the Library Media specialist for their 800+ students in grades PreK to 8th. When discussing her needs, we mentioned that we had just received a huge donation of non-fiction books from the librarians at Greenwich Country Day School and Stanwich School who are currently working on combining their extensive libraries. When Cornelia showed us her single shelf of biographies, Julio and I immediately returned to Greenwich and filled the Jeep to the brim with books for their library. So much fun!
Hall Elementary students love to read
Wow! So much fun when kids attack the books we bring. As you can see, Dr Betsy Sissons, head of enrichment at Hall Elementary School in Bridgeport has instilled a real love of reading. All the students were so enthusiastic and personable - we really enjoyed meeting them!
New Canaan Library's Children's Room is wonderful!
Thanks so much to Cheryl Capitani, the Children's Librarian at New Canaan Library for always being so very generous with their gently used kid books. This room is so inviting and every time I go to pick up books, it is filled with kids!
ABCD does a great job for Bridgeport's little ones
We dropped by Bridgeport's ABCD, Inc. early learning headquarters to replenish the stash of picture and board books that they distribute across all their sites. This group manages a wide range of Head Start, school readiness and daycare programs in Bridgeport. Click here to learn more about them
http://www.abcd.org/early-learning-division/programs
Sibert Award winners for Park City Magnet
Lisette Valle of Park City Magnet School in Bridgeport contacted us to get some books for their 563 children. We are always thrilled to give great books and this time, we included a couple of boxes of brand new non-fiction that came from Perrot Librarian Kathy Jarombek who recently chaired the Sibert Award Committee for the best information books for kids. Some of these titles were fascinating and you can see the list of all the award winning books at http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/sibertmedal
We Love our Book Donors
Many thanks to our very generous book donors in 2018 who enabled us to distribute 40,000 wonderful gently used books in 2018, bringing our 4 year total to over 160,000! We source most of our books from the Town of Greenwich Book Swap and Darien Book Aid, but this year also received lots of books from many other friends.
Thanks as well to the fabulous volunteers at the Greenwich Book Swap and Darien Book Aid. Kudos to Julio Reinoso who helped distribute books to 33 schools in Bridgeport, and Gerhard Peter who maintained adult libraries at 14 senior centers and nursing homes.
Pam Perkins gets a snowman assist!
Stopped by Blackham School recently to drop off some books to Pam Perkins who provides all their kids with a book for their April break. looks like her snowman buddy was trying to lend her a hand!
Helping out Bridgeport's Toys for Tots after toy theft
So happy to provide Pastor Torres with 12 boxes of kids books today for their upcoming Toys for Tots event. Following the devastating theft of 1,000 toys this season, they have been so thankful for the amazing outpouring of love and gifts from the local communities. Children now may actually get 2-3 gifts!
Many thanks to our book donors, Darien Book Aid Plan, Greenwich recycling's Book Swap, and a very industrious group of 5 year olds in Christ Church Greenwich Nursery School's Connecting class who ran a children's book drive for us.
Introducing Bridgeport Learning Center
Really enjoyed meeting the staff at Bridgeport Learning Center when Julio and I dropped off some books last week. This PreK-12 school's mission is to provide a safe, caring, therapeutic environment where students with complex educational and social challenges can best develop the skills and character necessary to rejoin their communities with success. Bridgeport Learning Center provides comprehensive, integrated mental health services while offering high quality, rigorous educational services for their students. It also has some very fun staff members!
Park City Magnet School
Say hello to Lissette Valle, the Librarian at Bridgeport's Park City Magnet School, a K-8th grade intra-district magnet program with a focus on the study of science and technology. You can learn more about this impressive school at www.bpsapply.com/site319.php .
We were able to give her a wide assortment of fiction and non-fiction books for their library and classrooms. Many thanks to Greenwich Country Day School, Darien Book Aid Plan and the Greenwich Book Swap for the book donations.
All Our Kin hosts their Jingle & Mingle event
We love to give board books to All Our Kin - Connecticut because they provide them to countless new early childcare providers in Bridgeport and Stamford. Most of these books came from Darien Book Aid Plan and will be distributed at their Jingle & Mingle event on December 4th.
Harry Potter Book Drive Update
Delivered 20 Harry Potter books and CDs to a very happy Officer John Maldonado at Multicultural Magnet School. We will continue to collect books for them as the kids will be reading them through May. One of his students jumped right in - let the reading begin!
Hall Elementary School
Visited Hall Elementary School today in Bridgeport and got a hand from these very strong students. The books were an instant hit!
Beardsley School
Cynthia Wilder, a Kindergarten teacher at Beardsley School in Bridgeport got first dibs today on some great picture books donated by Byram Shubert Library in Greenwich
Sometimes the stars are just aligned....
Greenwich Country Day School has a wonderful tradition. As part of the annual student book fair, parents donate their used kids books for needy children. GCDS graciously invited Books4Everyone last week to take away loads of lovely gently used elementary school books.
On the same day, we received a request from Westover School in Stamford. Due to a severe mold infestation, the school is being closed indefinitely for remediation and 800 children and teachers are moving to an old Pitney Bowes campus. All of their books and school supplies must be left behind and destroyed, meaning no books whatsoever in a library or classroom for the children.
Maria, their librarian assistant picked up many boxes of the excellent GCDS books from Books4Everyone.org that very night and will be sourcing more from us over the coming weeks as their needs become more clear.
Hannah and Matt sure know how to pack a car!
Many thanks to Hannah Zipkin and Matthew Silliman of Ridgefield High School who organized a children's book drive this summer. They put out donation bins in their neighborhood, stores and local community centers and collected over 500 books! We are honored to distribute them to needy kids over the next month.
Bravo Hannah and Matt!
