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Belk’s Charity Sale

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When you purchase a Belk’s Charity Ticket for a $5 donation to Book Drive for Kids, you can spend $1 twice!

How?

Your donation of $5 for a Belk’s Charity Sale ticket goes directly to purchasing books for our free book fairs. Then on November 9th, Belk will redeem that ticket for $5 off any purchase during the Belk’s Charity Sale at any Belk stores. During this sale, they offer some of their best prices all year long, many even better than Black Friday sales.
Belk Charity Sale tickets are available NOW with any $5 donation on our website or from a Book Drive for Kids Ambassador. We will be in-store selling tickets at the Flower Mound location at 5801 Long Prairie Road on the following dates:

Sunday, October 27 from 2-4pm
Saturday, November 2 from noon – 2pm
Saturday, November 9 from 10-11am

Plan a group shopping trip by gifting some of your favorite people with a ticket and spending them together on November 9th at Belk’s. What a great way to start your Christmas shopping and spend time together while benefitting the 8,000 children who will browse the book tables at a Book Drive for Kids’ free book fair this year.

YOU make it all possible!

We need your help! You can make a double impact!

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From now until May 10th, your donation will be matched by Reading is Fundamental (RIF), a national literacy organization.

Here’s the story: Book Drive for Kids applied for a Book Ownership Matching Grant offered by RIF. This is a program where Book Drive for Kids contributes a designated amount of money and RIF matches that amount so that Book Drive for Kids can purchase new books at discounted prices from RIF’s online store..

With a $5000 donation from Regions Bank, we applied for RIF to match that $5000. This would allow us to acquire $10,0000 worth of books. That’s 3,333 new books which is literally half the inventory we need for the 2019-20 free book fairs to which we have already committed. You can imagine our surprise when we opened our Award Letter and found they actually awarded us $9000! This will enable us to purchase $18,000 worth of books – that’s 6,000 new books!

Here’s where we need your help!

We need to raise the extra $4,000.

A generous donor has already started this fund with a $1000 donation.
Can you help us raise the remaining amount?
Do you know other donors or corporations that would like to sponsor a free book fair?
These sponsorships range from $500-$2500. All donations are tax deductible.

We are so excited about this amazing opportunity! It is available because of YOU, our amazing volunteers and donors.
Your donation will be matched (up to $4000) until May 10th.

Donate Today!

Happy New Year!

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Our new year began with a bang in the form of a $1000 grant from First Book and Whataburger!

First Book is an organization that makes new books and educational materials available to non-profits at incredibly reduced prices (Book Marketplace) or for free (Book Bank – only pay shipping charges).  Because we ordered from the Book Bank, we were informed about the grants that Whataburger was awarding in the form of gift certificates to First Book. We applied and are so honored to have been chosen to receive one of the $1000 grants! This will supplement our book fair selections with books that are in high demand, like non-fiction titles about dinosaurs and sharks!

It’s because of your support through donations, volunteering, and getting the word out to your friends and family (you can like us on Facebook now) that Book Drive for Kids gave over 4,000 children a book of their own in 2018. We are going strong into 2019 as you continue to share this important work with your friends and community members!

Here are the highlights from December:

Almost 1,000 students received a free book at Book Drive for Kids Book Fairs at Life School – Lancaster and Life School – Oak Cliff. One teacher was almost in tears as she watched her students get so excited over books! She wanted to give each of them a book for Christmas but did not have the resources. She was so grateful Book Drive for Kids could give that gift to her students.

Lamb of God Preschool families in Flower Mound held their second annual Book Donation Drive and donated 250 books.  These sweet, young children are sharing their books with those who don’t have books.

Utopia Food & Fitness customers in Southlake donated 225 books in just three weeks. We were so excited to receive many Christmas book donations just before the December book fairs!

You can now support Book Drive for Kids through your regular grocery shopping! Just list Book Drive for Kids as your designated charity on your Tom Thumb Good Neighbor Card OR as your Community Rewards partner at Kroger.

With funds from the Belk Charity Sale fundraiser in November, we were able to purchase non-fiction books at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale to supplement our own inventory. Having a wide selection of books is especially important for reluctant readers. The data says when children choose a book on their own they are far more likely to finish reading it and an enthusiasm for reading is ignited.

At the book fairs in December, our volunteers made a short FB video. Check it out on our Facebook page.

One of the fun things about working in the realm of education is that you get to celebrate New Year’s TWICE a year! We celebrate and plan as we enter the school year. Then do it again at the start of the calendar year. As we look back over 2018, we are amazed at all the good work that has been done with such a small group of amazing donors and volunteers. Thank you for giving the gift of literacy!

Michelle & Nicol

Summer Reading Kick-off!

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“This event was amazing,” said librarian Veronica Hernandez, “The book fair allowed students to get a book they likely would not have had otherwise.”

Book Drive for Kids burst into June with two of our largest events of the school year! Lewisville Elementary and Central Elementary (also in Lewisville) invited us to hold free Book Fairs for their students to kick-off their emphasis on summer reading.

In just two days, over 1,600 students browsed the book tables and found a special book to call their own. While these students have a strong thirst for knowledge, for many, purchasing a book is a luxury. Some students wanted to learn more about sharks while others chose books on World War II still others chose fantasy adventures or joke books. The thing that they all shared was a warm smile and eyes filled with anticipation.

“It was heartwarming to see our students in the bus lines so excited about their new books; asking if they could read them while they waited for their bus to be called,” said a teacher. Lewisville Elementary had recently completed their Scholastic Book Fair. Ms. Hernandez noticed many students who wanted to get books but did not have the funds to do so. Book Drive for Kids was able to satisfy that desire!

“Thank you so much for coming to our school,” Katie Delamarter, librarian at Central Elementary, said, “I am on cloud nine seeing the joy on the faces of these students upon being able to choose their own book.” Another teacher shared, “My students kept asking me, ‘Do I really get to keep this book?’” She replied with a smile, “YES!”

This response is not unique. We hear similar comments after each and every free Book Fair: Children eager to learn and excited for the opportunity to choose a book to call their own. Teachers encouraged by the joy on their students faces and grateful for another voice in this child’s life encouraging them to read books.

The question that pierced my heart was, “How many books can I get?” Our program allows for just one book for each child but with your help, maybe next year we can say, “Get as many as you want!”

Will you help us share the joy of reading?
Get involved: organize a book donation drive, volunteer at a free book fair, or donate funds so we can purchase high-demand book titles.
Visit https://bookdrive.wpengine.com/ to learn more!

There are many more children in schools just like these across the DFW area. With your help, we can support each and every one of them in the coming year!

They did it!

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Three Flower Mound Girl Scouts recently finished hosting TWO local book donation drives. Because of their hard work and determination they were successful in collecting 1,000 children books! That’s 1,000 children that will soon be blessed with a book of their very own.

Grace Zinecker, Elizabeth Burris and Grace Maner heard about Book Drive for Kids at a Girls Scout meeting. Knowing they needed a project to achieve their Silver Award, these three ambitious middle schoolers decided they wanted to make a difference. They contacted Book Drive for Kids and volunteered to host two drives. They met with principals, coordinated book drive details, set up donation boxes and advertised. Their hard work paid off and they collected 1,000 books.

They said the project was challenging but definitely worth it. All three girls are big readers and they loved the idea of sharing the joy of reading with other children. They were excited to help better the lives of others and these book donation drives gave them that opportunity. Grace Zinecker summed it up well by saying, “If everyone helps out others who are less fortunate, we can make a difference in the world, one by one. Helping others can build good character for volunteers, and give those who are less fortunate a chance to find opportunities they never had before.”

Well said Grace! Book Drive for Kids loves kids helping other kids. And these Girl Scouts proved that kids can do big things that impact the world around us.

It’s Fun!

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That’s Sofia Reid’s description of participating in a Book Donation Drive with Book Drive for Kids. Sofia and her fellow American Heritage Girl Pathfinders, Violet, Kyla, and Tressa, collected and donated 400 children’s books which will be used to fill the book tables at a free Book Fair for disadvantaged children. When asked why she thought it was important to share books with other children, Sofia responded, “So they can have fun. Reading is fun!”

Farrel Reid, Sofia’s mother as well as her American Heritage Girls Pathfinder Troop leader, was seeking a service project for her troop of kindergarten girls. “What stood out to me about this service project was the aspect of the girls giving sacrificially of their own belongings. It is one thing to ask a parent to purchase items for a food pantry (which we have done willingly and frequently) but quite another for these children to look at their own bookshelves and decide what they are willing to share with another child who is more needy.”

At Book Drive for Kids, we are excited about getting great books into the hands of children who have less access to them. We are also excited to see donation drives that foster the idea of kids-helping-kids. Thank you, Troop 1171 American Girls Pathfinders, for your generosity and willingness to share your favorite books with other children!

Little People make a Big Difference

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When Chandra heard about Book Drive for Kids she wanted to do something to help! How could  a stay-at-home Mom and her little people – 4 year old Lillah, 2 year old Carson and Baby Isaiah make a difference?  They didn’t have gently used children’s books to pass along; they were just  beginning to build a home collection of books. She didn’t have empty hours in the day to volunteer. What could they do?

Chandra approached her daughter’s preschool teacher, Justine, and asked if her preschool would be interested in holding a Book Drive. Justine got just as excited as Chandra and a Book Donation Drive was scheduled for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas at Lamb of God Preschool in Flower Mound, Texas.

The Christmas holiday season is a busy time and many different causes request assistance; however, the families at Lamb of God Preschool stepped up to the plate! They donated over 350 books, many of which were early reader and chapter books which are in high demand.

Thank you, Lamb of God Preschool, for caring about children across the DFW area and making a BIG difference.

300 Books for Kids!

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When the Dettmer family learned that some children have few books to call their own, they wanted to help! Melissa contacted her children’s school, Coram Deo Academy in Flower Mound, to ask families to donate books that their children had out grown. Within just a few short days, the Dettmer family and their friends, gathered over 300 books to donate to Book Drive for Kids. Thank you, Dettmer family and your friends from Coram Deo, for sharing the gift of reading with other kids in the DFW area.