Congratulations to Precious Mack who just earned her Associates degree at Housatonic Community College. She has also been gathering books for over a year to send to 15 needy schools in Trinidad and now has over 4,000 books in colored coded boxes ready to go into a shipping container. Such an inspiration to see what one person can do to help so many!
Books for United Way's Cradle to Career Event
Roxbury Elementary is into reading!
Cos Cob's annual children's book sale is a hit
Thanks a bundle to the The Friends of the Cos Cob Library for providing Books4Everyone with tons of great kids books from their annual book sale. They also contributed to the 3,000 book drive underway at New Beginnings Family Academy. Keep an eye out for this sale next September as they have a wonderful selection of books and the sale provides valuable funding for their children's programs
Even more books at Holly Hill
We have increased our selection at the Book Swap at Holly Hill to include more non-fiction and kids books. We love it when families come exploring and find something for every age group. (Mom and Dad did pretty well too!)
Back to school books for the classroom at Claytor
We just learned how to make several teachers happy at Claytor Magnet Academy. They just got some fresh books for their classrooms from Perrot Memorial Library, Darien Book Aid Plan and the Mead School!
Lauren's books have found a great new home!
Thanks so much to Lauren for volunteering at the Book Swap last month. She conducted a survey for us and determined that we get about 200 guests during our 8am-12pm hours.
Guests drop off about 1,000 books a day and take away over 400 books. We then take the excess books that are in good condition to schools, senior centers and community centers throughout Fairfield County.
Lauren also donated her amazing personal collection of over 300 beautiful kids books, all of which went to improve the Library at Inspirica - from homeless to home in Stamford.
Bravo Lauren!
These kids love to read!
We love our little “Duckies” at Stamford’s Children’s Learning Center on Lockwood Avenue. Each week up to 6 classrooms of 3-5 year olds drop by and patiently wait to pick out books that they can take home.
Hall Neighborhood House cuties
I wish we could show you all the wonderful kids that we get to meet every week, but most of the time, we don't have permission to take photos of the kids, so we showcase their impressive teachers and organizations instead. Although our donors have graciously provided us with great books to distribute - we get the benefit of all the smiles, High-Fives, hugs and Thank-you's from these adorable kids. Bob Dzurenda, the Executive Director of Hall Neighborhood House, and Rafael gave us a hand with the book delivery. They also introduced us to these cuties in the 3 year old class.
Neighbor to Neighbor has some welcoming kids bookshelves
Love to maintain these kids' bookshelves at Neighbor to Neighbor. It is such a caring, welcoming place. We will really miss their executive director, Nancy Coughlin, who has recently left to head up Person to Person in Darien.
Introducing YMCA Alpha Community Services
It was a pleasure meeting Aida at Alpha Community Services YMCA's office on Clinton Street. We provided some books for their excellent Transitional Living Services program. Read more about them here.https://www.facebook.com/Alpha-Community-Services-YMCA-170372840480/
The Lighthouse Program is up and running
We made our first delivery of books for Bridgeport's Summer Lighthouse Program. Tammy Papa and her team provide a five week academic, athletic and recreational program for over 2,000 students. You can learn more at: https://www.bridgeportct.gov/lighthouse
Noroton Presbyterian Nursery students donated some great books
While at Darien Book Aid the other day I stumbled upon Laura giving a tour to a group of adorable kids from Noroton Presbyterian Nursery School. They had collected several boxes full of kids books to send off to needy children abroad. Loved their collection boxes!
Time to get your summer reading
Elizabeth scored today at the Book Swap at Holly Hill. Looks like a nice long Harry Potter summer ahead!
The Carroll Family Rocks!
Many thanks to the Carroll family who donated hundreds of kids books today at Holly Hill. Can't wait to give the books new homes with needy kids in Bridgeport and Stamford.
The Parent's Convention was a huge hit this year
Excellent turnout at Bridgeport's Annual Parents Convention. Julio manned several tables of free books and they went like hotcakes! Thanks to Gail Carroll of Bridgeport Propers for the photos of our ‘booth’.
Hall Neighborhood House
I enjoyed getting a chance to meet Faith Douglass and Hector Burgos, the Youth Program Director Hall Neighborhood House in Bridgeport. This community organization has a large early learning center, a community center and a seniors program. We love to provide both kids and adult books there.
New books for Read School
Got a hand from these strong students at Read School the other day
Bridgeport's Parent Convention - 2019
Visited Bassick High School the other day to drop off some books with Albert Benejan who is running the 47th annual Parent Convention taking place on May 29th from 8:30 am - 2pm at Housatonic Community College. This bilingual event gets a great turnout each year due to the topics covered. This year they include 1) the 2020 Census, 2) Special Needs, 3) Internet Safety, 4) Math workshop, 5) Knowing the laws about rights and responsibilities as parents and, 6) How the state supports families with bilingual and ESL students.
Inspirica inspires kids to read
Tracey at Inspirica does an amazing job of making the lobby an inviting place for kids to come and read. If you aren’t familiar with this Homeless Shelter in Stamford or its family centric programs, check it out here at https://www.inspiricact.org/