Donate MG and YA books here!
A few months ago, I stumbled across this post* that the amazing Liza Nahaus from the Carmel Barnes and Noble had shared.
...Back in June I was down at Circle City Relief.... CCR is a really cool ministry that meets every Sunday in the parking lot of IPS #62 (near 33rd St. and Pennsylvania) and provides a hot meal to anyone in the community who wants it. They also do a really good job of just loving well on people there in the community. At one point a man and his nephew, who was probably 8 or 9, came up to me, and the uncle asked me if we were giving away any kids books that day. He said his nephew had really been wanting a new book of his very own that he could take home and read.
Since it was my first time at CCR, I asked another volunteer to come over to answer the man's question. She told him that unfortunately we didn't have any books to give away that day. She said that every once in awhile, maybe once or twice a year, CCR gets some books donated to them that they give out to the kids. The volunteer went on to suggest to the boy that he could check out a book from his school library to bring home if he wanted to. The boy shook his head though, and said that they are not allowed to bring books home from his school library. They have to stay at school. So then the volunteer suggested that he could go to the public library to check out some books. Again, the boy shook his head and said that his mom works every day and is unable to take him to the library.
Unfortunately, the boy went away empty handed and was obviously sad. As he left I told him that I really hoped he found a book soon that he could have. I was sad as he and his uncle walked away, and my mind immediately turned to my own kids. I especially thought of my first grader, who has the privilege of going to his school library every Wednesday and checking out 3 new books to bring HOME to read. And I take the kids to our public library all of the time to check out books and movies. Not to mention the 100's of books we have at our house that the kids can read anytime they want. But this young boy had opened my eyes to the fact that I had unknowingly been taking for granted something as simple as easy access to books.
Well, about 15 minutes later the uncle comes running back up to my table and says, "You'll never believe this! My nephew and I were heading out of the parking lot and this volunteer lady was just bringing out a box of books from the trunk of her car to pass out to the kids! So my nephew just got a new book!" And I looked down the parking lot, and sure enough there was a lady with a small box of books and a big group of kids had just swarmed her wanting a book. And the uncle had this huge smile on his face and he said, "You know God answers prayers! God is good, all the time!" Of course, I replied, "Yes, He is!" It was so cool to see such an immediate answer to prayer!
Over the next few days, the boy's story just stuck with me. Something about it touched my heart. And that's when the wheels started turning, so to speak! I thought, how cool would it be if we could start some sort of book resource, or book mobile, that we could bring to CCR once a month….
I was crying by the time I finished reading this woman's story. I can't imagine a life without books.
I reached out to friends and neighbors and they all ran to their bookshelves, donating boxes and boxes of books their children weren't reading anymore. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so blessed to live in such a wonderful community.
This past weekend, I was honored to meet Emily Jackson, founder of Love without Borders at the Carmel Barnes and Noble Mini Maker Fair. She said the Circle City Relief Bookmobile has been a huge hit. In their first month they gave away around 100 books. The second month they gave away 300 books!
Kids were lined up, waiting patiently for their turn to sift through the books and choose one that was just right for them. For a lot of these kids, this is the first and only book that they own.
Most of the books being donated are for young children and early readers. Emily told me that there is a need for great, fresh, and compelling middle grade and young adult books. And that's why I'm writing today.
I'm hoping my MG and YA reader and writer friends would consider donating some new or gently used books to this great cause.
If you've got new or gently used MG/YA books on your shelves that you know you'll never read again, consider sending them my way. I'll deliver them to the bookmobile (and hopefully get the chance to volunteer a few times, too).
I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of books being donated and other fun stuff on the journey. They'll be posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using the #DonateBooks and #GotBooks hashtags.
Thank you! Thank you for sharing the gift of books!
If you can help, please send the books to
Shannon Lee Alexander
PO Box 485
Fishers, IN 46038
*Please send via USPS since this is a PO box and UPS and FedEx won't deliver.
**And don't forget to ask about using the USPS Media Mail service. It'll reduce the cost of shipping books!
This is so nice that some people still can share something with others. Nice post, though.
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