Books for Keeps blog

For 50 weeks, we’ve collected, inspected, sorted and boxed books. Now comes the fun part – we’ll spend two-and-a-half weeks this spring giving them all away!

Join us as we help children select and count their books and record their feedback on our book selection. The one word that seems to best describe the experience:  JOY.

No special skills are required; training is provided in the first 10 minutes of each shift – so the most important requirement is to show up on time! Sign up for a shift at handsonnortheastgeorgia.org.

If you are part of a group that would like to adopt an entire shift, please email Leslie Hale to sign them up: leslie.hale@booksforkeeps.org.
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ALPS ROAD ELEMENTARY
Monday, April 28 – 8:05-11:05 a.m. and 11:55-2:30 p.m. (all shifts full)

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FOWLER DRIVE ELEMENTARY
Tuesday, April 29 – 7:45 a.m.-12 p.m. and 12:10-2:30 p.m. (p.m. shift full)

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DUNBAR ELEMENTARY – ATLANTA
Wednesday, April 30 – 7:45 a.m.-12:05 p.m. and 12:30-2:30 p.m. (p.m. shift full)

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J.J. HARRIS ELEMENTARY
Thursday, May 1 – 7:45-11:25 a.m. and 11:40 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (p.m. shift full)
Friday, May 2 – 8:05-10:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.-1 p.m. (p.m. shift full)

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OGLETHORPE AVENUE ELEMENTARY
Monday, May 5 – 7:45-11:05 a.m. and 12-2:15 p.m.
Tuesday, May 6 – 7:45-11:30 a.m.

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GAINES ELEMENTARY
Wednesday, May 7 – 7:45-11:15 a.m. and 11:50 a.m.-2 p.m. (p.m. shift full)
Thursday, May 8 – 7:45-10:50 a.m. and 10:50 a.m.-2:10 p.m.

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FREEMAN ELEMENTARY – WARRENTON, GA
Friday, May 9 – 8:25-11:45 a.m. and 11:50 to 3:10 p.m.

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DOWNTOWN ACADEMY
Monday, May 12 – 12:45-1:50 p.m.

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WINTERVILLE ELEMENTARY
Tuesday, May 13 – 7:45-11:05 a.m. and 11:05 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

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STROUD ELEMENTARY
Wednesday, May 14 – 7:45-11:30 a.m. and 11:35 a.m.-2:50 p.m. (p.m. shift full)

But seriously, where did that month go?
It seems like it was just last week that we were celebrating the triumph of meeting our year-end fundraising goal, and also learning that we would need to find new warehouse space in the first quarter of this year.

OK, so maybe we’ve been a little busy. Our last post was January 13, about our need for new warehouse space. We have a lot of really great friends and supporters working to help us resolve this need – unfortunately, we have little else to update. We are continuing to talk to anyone who will listen to our needs, especially those folks who might know someone (who knows someone who knows someone).

If you missed it, here’s our press release about the issue, and a fantastic article the Athens Banner-Herald ran informing the community about our situation.

We continue to be grateful to Fire and Flavor for the two-and-a-half years they have given us of rent-free storage and operations space for our books. They are also doing what they can to help us find a new home, and we will forever be appreciative of their generosity.

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Are you Smarter than an Athens Grade-Schooler?
Well, are you?

It’s a question we’re excited to ask for the first time, as we launch this inaugural event on March 22. It will be held at the Holiday Inn Athens, and will feature teams of adults competing against teams of students from the schools we serve.

We’re recruiting teams now, working directly with the schools and reaching out to members of the business community to see who feels secure enough that they’ve retained that all-important grade-school knowledge. Check out our event page on our website and on Facebook. Ticket [...]

To our amazing community of supporters:

In November, we faced a daunting task – finding sponsors for nearly 1,200 children who still weren’t covered in our 2014 program. We had the books on hand – or the funds needed – to serve the rest of the 3,700 children we’re committed to reach in 2014.

Still, 1,200 children was a lot. We were talking about $30,000, or the funds needed to buy some 15,000 books.

And we needed that on hand by December 31 in order to have the time  to box books for distribution to the schools in May – a lengthy process.

Two major grants helped significantly reduce that number, including $2,500 from the Jackson EMC Foundation and roughly $9,000 to cover class sponsorships from a local family foundation.

But ultimately, meeting our goal would not have been possible without the widespread community support that we are so fortunate to have. The rest of those sponsorships – roughly $20,000 – came from individuals and businesses.

They saw a challenge, stepped up to meet it, and with us they reveled in watching the number of children needing sponsors get smaller with each passing day. Take a look at our Facebook gallery of cover photos chronicling this countdown to see what we’re talking about. It’s pretty remarkable.

Some folks gave $1,000 to sponsor two classrooms, or 40 children – and we were blown away by their generosity. Some people gave $10, noting that “every little bit counts” – and we were equally blown away by the support of these individuals with tight budgets digging deep to give what they could. Thank you to everyone who gave at these levels, and everywhere in between!

These gifts, large and small, each have their own significance and [...]

It helps to think back to how things began.

Like the excitement of falling in love, moving to a new place, starting a new job – remembering how things started often keeps us going. We push through the hard times, we find reasons to work even harder, we build on strong foundations.

Four-and-a-half years ago, the kernel of an idea was planted in Books for Keeps founder Melaney Smith’s brain. It took root, and through friends, community support, and a lot of hard work, that seed sprang forth into something remarkable.

And it grew. And it keeps growing. In 2014, Books for Keeps will distribute 45,000 books to 3,700 children at nine schools.

But this is how it all began. We’re sharing with you Melaney’s first-ever blog post, from our (recently-retired) Blogspot blog. It’s titled “How to Help a 2nd Grader,” and it’s the simple appeal for help that launched a grassroots movement that would, two years later, go on to provide nearly 80,000 books to children who might otherwise have none.

Help us keep growing to reach more children. Help us reach our goal of 45,000 books by Dec. 31. Sponsor a child… give a gift in someone’s name… hold a book drive… today. (Click any of the underlined links to learn more.)

~Leslie

But first, enjoy:
I need some serious help in the brain-power department right now. I have about 3 weeks to handle a problem that is keeping me awake at night. Here’s the story:

My niece mentors a 2nd grade girl who attends one of Athens’ public schools. Let’s call her Jane. Jane loves to read, but has no books at home. Jane loves to color, but has no crayons at home.

Jane has a good friend in class, [...]