Mondays Matter: Week 13

Taken from the book Every Monday Matters: 52 Way To Make A Difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza.

This is an idea that is near and dear to my heart...Books and Reading

Donate Books

61% of low-income families have NO books in their homes.

55% of children have an increased interest in reading when given books at an early age.

ACTION STEPS

1. Go through your booksheves and pull out books that you will never read again or have owned for more than 2 years and haven't read yet.

2. Pack the books in a box.

3. Call your local library, school, foster home, or children's organization to see if they need books.

4. Deliver the books!

5. If you don't have any books at home, purchase some books to donate or find an organization that accepts financial donations and will purchase books and deliver them where they are needed.

We probably have more books in our home than toys. I love books. I love to read and I try to instill that in my kids by making sure they have many reading options readily available. Then twice a year I go through the kids bookshelves and pull out the ones we have outgrown or no longer need. Then we donate them to a very needy organization called Heart of Iowa. They provide treatment and housing to women that are pregnant or have children and struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction. A friend of mine was helping her husband who works for Heart of Iowa and a child came up to her and asked if she had any books he could read. She noticed that there were no books for the children. So, she asked us at church to donate books for the kids and the books came in boxes and boxes. Now our church's circle regularly donates to purchase new books for the kids and I regularly go through our shelves to add to that as well. I also regularly donate my books to our local library. If they don't need to add them to their shelves, they go into their bin for their annual book sale for which the proceeds are used to purchase more books for the library. So, every body wins.

Having access to books is the key to literacy. By donating books, especially children's books, you can impact some of the 12 million children who don't have books at home.