2025 Reading Challenge discussion

READERS GIVE BACK
Duration: March 18, 2018 - April 29, 2018

Let's take this our opportunity to give back to the reading community! To participate, pick a charity with a book-related cause you believe in. This could be a school, local library, hospital, a refugee centre, etc. There are a ton of worthy charities out there, and we'd love to hear which are near and dear to your hearts. We will post them in the second comment in this thread along with some to get you started.

Donate books, money, or time between now and April 29, 2018 and let us know how you participated. We would love to see pictures of our members volunteering or the charities you support.

We realize that not everyone has the means or opportunity to participate, and that's totally okay! This is completely optional. :) Each member that joins this activity will receive two raffle tickets.

Thank you!

Some international charities to get you started:

Worldreader
Little Free Library
Book Aid International
World Literacy Foundation

Charities suggested my members:

Books Through Bars
Savers/Value Village
People's Dispensary for Sick Animals
The Fire Fighters Charity
The Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba
YMCA/JCC
The Salvation Army
Goodwill
The Saint Vincent Paul Society

I'll be dropping off some books at my local little free library, and donating books to a nearby moms' group for their childcare rooms.

Good job Kristin and Meghan! I will be checking out the possibilities in my neighbourhood. The local libraries and charity shops here tend to be very picky, because they get so much stuff (which is a good thing!).

My local library is also very selective in what it accepts so I did some research and found an organization called Books Through Bars which donates books to prisons.

They have fairly specific requirements so the books that don't fit them, I will either be giving to my sister for her 6th grade classroom library or to Goodwill.

If I might make a suggestion, if you have it near you, donate to a Savers/Value Village over a Goodwill. Every donation you make to a Savers/Value Village puts money into your local charities; which ones depends on your area. For me, here in Phoenix, money goes to the Boys and Girls Club, Bosom Buddies of Arizona, and The Epilepsy Foundation.

I worked for Savers, doing books even, for nearly two years and I watched what the company did. Please support them, even if they aren't "non-profit" like Goodwill.

Thanks for the tip Keturah but it looks like there aren't any donation locations within NYC and trekking out to the suburbs without a car is not easy with piles of books.

Rachelnyc wrote: "Thanks for the tip Keturah but it looks like there aren't any donation locations within NYC and trekking out to the suburbs without a car is not easy with piles of books."

I know the feeling, I had to recently donate like 3 boxes worth of books and i had to walk, with my two year old to do it.

My library takes books they can't use and either puts them on the free shelf or recycles them. Not all of the librarians at the library know that, so sometimes you have to check. Always ask for the librarian in charge of circulation.

I have lots of annuals dating back to the 1950s ready to donate to the PDSA on Monday and paperbacks to raise money for the Firefighters Charity.

https://www.pdsa.org.uk
https://www.firefighterscharity.org.uk

I donate books back to my local children's hospital. And there happens to be a sale here in April so i will buy a whole bunch more books from them as well.
http://goodbear.mb.ca/events/children...

I'll be donating lots of my old children's books to Restore, a local thrift shop that donates the proceeds to local charities and also provides jobs for people with disabilities.

Our library does not accept book donations either. But we have a value village and I just made a drop off yesterday. (and bought some books there too).

I have a whole container of books in my shed I've been meaning to donate to my local charity shop. (My local library won't take them.) I will try and donate them this weekend. I will let you know when it's done.

So there is a cute little free library box in a town by me. For those of you who have not seen these, they are super cute and rustic and made out of almost anything. it's a small house looking one that i know of and has a door. The rule is give and take. These books are donated by you and taken by whoever else. It's a free way to pass along good books and maybe get a few too. I have some recently read books that i will drop by and add to that little house. 😊

Hi,

Just some suggestions for those of you who have libraries that will not take books.

You can try your local homeless shelters or YMCAs/JCCs. I have donated books to both. The Salvation Army, Goodwill, or local Thrift Store will accept books and usually has some one that will sell books worth more than $1 online.

Also, look and see if there is a literacy program in your area. Most mass market paperbacks are written below the 10th grade reading level which are exactly the kinds of books people need to read to pass their high school equivalency tests.

Kadijah Michelle wrote: "Hi,

Just some suggestions for those of you who have libraries that will not take books.

You can try your local homeless shelters or YMCAs/JCCs. I have donated books to both. The Salvation Army, ..."

Thanks, Kadijah Michelle, that is really great information that not many people know!

Finally donated all the books I had set aside to donate. I gave them to my local charity shop, St. Vincent de Paul's Society.

JoJo wrote: "Finally donated all the books I had set aside to donate. I gave them to my local charity shop, St. Vincent de Paul's Society."

You set them free so other people can enjoy them, and did a good deed, too!

I collected some books from my parents and myself and donated them to the library nearby my parents house. They have a little room in there where you can buy used books and any money goes back into the library for new books, programs, etc.

Thank you all for participating in this activity and donating your books to charity!