Current Currents

Just a few quick updates:

1. Wow, we're almost running out of books! Please continue donating, and get others involved! We especially are focusing on children's books right now. Also, we'll take good quality magazines, like old National Geographics, for libraries.
2. This morning we delivered 3 bags of 30 books each to the Roswell Senior Center. The center manager, Sandra Hanson, was kind enough to agree to transport 2 of the bags to the other North Fulton centers in Alpharetta and Sandy Springs. Thanks so much!
   
   
   Kathy N. and Ms. Hanson
   
   
   
3. Another clinic contacted us for books! Here are the e-mails of the 4 people representing 5 clinics:
   

We would greatly appreciate any books you donate to us.
We see children ages 0 -17 in my clinic but we see patients of all ages.
I am the only full time pediatrician and we have 7 full (or part-time) family physicians.
I can be reached via email or my clinic [#].

Jennifer Fowlkes-Callins MD

Our Reach Out and Read Program would love your donations. Our children love receiving books year round. My office telephone number is [#] or you can e-mail me. I hope we can discuss delivery. I will be on vacation next week.
Thanks,

Tiquette White, MD

My name is Ashley Lauria and I am the current Program Coordinator for the Reach Out and Read programs at the International Medical Center and Lindbergh Women and Children's Health Center. I received your emails about the donation offer and we would be more than grateful to receive the donations for both sites. Our ROR programs are constantly in need of books to supply our reading program and to stock the waiting rooms, so they will definitely be put to good use. Please let me know at your earliest convenience how we coordinate either delivering or picking up the books.
Thank you!

+Ashley Lauria
Emory University c/o 2010
Reach Out and Read Program Coordinator (Grady Hospital-IMC & Lindbergh Clinic)
Kappa Kappa Gamma- Assistant to the Philanthropy Chair

Thanks for finding us; we could use some used books, but our clinic is a little small (2 pediatricians) and storage is limited. Are the books appropriate for ages 1 to 5? If so, I'd say we could store about 200 books. You can reach me at [#] (or [#]) at the clinic.

Our local/regional ROR coordinator might know where to place the other books;her name is Renee Ross, at [#]. Also, you might contact some of the other Grady neighborhood clinics; Dekalb Grady (Dr.Karen Duncan--[#]), North Dekalb (Dr.Dawn Swaby-Ellis--[#]), or North Fulton (Dr. Munoz-[#]) or Lindberg Clinic ([#]).

Thank you for your encouragement of book-reading to children; it is a passion I share.

B.J. Steele MD

Cruising By

What's the total count of books so far? IT'S OVER NINE HUNDRED!

On Thursday, Bookaneers spent another 4 good hours producing results. First, we went to Josh H.'s house to pick up about 60 books and give 20 flyers and a pin, so thanks for your efforts, Josh!

Then, we went to Shari M.'s house to drop off a donation box for the awesome collect-a-thon she's hosting on Saturday, July 5. Shari, with her extensive knowledge of Roswell, also came along with us to do the real work: asking places around town for help with the book drive.

During the day, we visited the Land Of A Thousand Hills Coffeeshop, whose excellent coffee helps widows of the Rwandan genocide, where friendly barista Anna S. said she would definitely ask if they could host a collection box or have flyers in the store. We also went to the City Hall and the Visitor Center, where we received suggestions on where to collect and donate books; we were also able to leave flyers at the latter.

In addition, we drove around Roswell to visit a total of 8 churches to ask if we could leave a collection box and/or flyers. Most said they would get back to us, but Northbrook United Methodist Church took flyers, and Andrew at First Christian Church [11365 Crabapple Rd.] and Ginger at Roswell Assembly of God [11440 Crabapple Rd.] took donation boxes.

Finally, we headed back to Shari's neighborhood at Inverness to tape flyers to about 150 mailboxes and at the club house. We think her collect-a-thon will be a great success!

Thanks so much for everybody's help!

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure:
[click for bigger picture]

Thanks, Northbrook United Methodist Church for letting us leave some flyers for your members to see!

Thanks to Andrew at First Christian Church for agreeing to hold a donation box!

We're really grateful to Ginger at Roswell Assembly of God for allowing us to set up a collection box!

If you live in Inverness, you'll see one of our flyers on your mailbox. :)

Swimmingly

Things are going along swimmingly.

Added to our list of book donation recipients are Senior Service centers in Georgia -- specifically right now three in North Fulton: Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Alpharetta. The Senior Services North Fulton, Inc. site is under maintenance at the moment. We're glad to be giving them 30 books for adults each to brighten the days of elderly individuals.

Our shipment of supplies from Indiana is expected to arrive on the 24th, and it is currently right on track.

We've just added a Do Something Project Page -- please visit to rate, nominate, and comment! We are applying for a $500 Plum Grant from Do Something.

Catching Drifts

Yesterday our wonderful Better World Books contact Mrs. Murphy ordered for us:

• 50 shipping boxes and blank adhesive labels
• 1 commercial roll of tape
• 20 collection boxes
• 20 lids
• NCFL Bookmarks and pins to give to people who donate books
• 20 NCFL posters

We also received a reimbursement form to help us with costs of copying flyers for around town.

Through the Reach Out and Read program, we contacted several Fulton County medical clinics. So far, three people -- Dr. Jennifer Fowlkes-Callins of Grady Health Center - East Point, Tiquette Mason of West End Medical Center, and Ashley Lauria of International Medical Center and Lindbergh Women & Children's Health Center -- have responded. We've bagged books (at least 50 for each location) and are going to make deliveries of children's/young adult books soon, sometime in early July.

We are pleased to welcome aboard Ramsey W. and Shari M.! Ramsey has volunteered to help start up an official club once school begins again, since he knows how to get that done. Shari is interested in running a collect-a-thon in her neighborhood soon. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

Also, check out the updated FAQ to learn more details on how we operate.

Ahoy there!

Still need to get those summer reading books?

Check out this online bookshop!
The site is part of Better World Books. You can buy from a vast selection of cheaper used or new books with FREE shipping -- and the proceeds all go to non-profit partners! BWB has raised over $4 million for global literacy so far.

Their main partners are:

• Books For Africa
• NCFL (whom we specifically chose to help)
• Room to Read (for children in developing countries, mostly in southeast Asia)
• WorldFund (to reduce poverty in Latin America)

as well as others on their site.

Better World Books has also helped rebuild the libraries of New Orleans and run thousands of book drives on campuses nationwide.

Plus, www.betterworld.com has book reviews and recommendations, so enjoy!

Today's activities [4+ constructive hours!]:

• Received formal letter from Marcus
• Posted
• Contacted Fulton County health center programs through the Reach Out and Read site
  
• Received two replies so far already
• Cleared out 2 bookshelves from the basement
• Cleaned garage and put in the bookshelves
• Packed 2 boxes (56 books) to send to Morocco for Marcus Haymon's new library
• Maybe we can send more in the future!
  
• Scanned our collection of books for Better World Books using a provided scanner
  
• Packed accepted reading material into 5 large boxes to send to Indiana
• UPS is coming tomorrow; shipping is paid for
  
• Organized rest of books on bookshelves
• Updated flyers -- for both the neighborhood and around Roswell
  
• Printed out 18 neighborhood
  
• Planning to distribute them very soon
• Cooked and ate some soup...
• It was minestrone

• E-mailed contacts, blogged, and brainstormed!

Tanya with 5 boxes to ship to Better World Books

Thanks, UPS!

Letter

Dear Bookaneers,

My name is Marcus Haymon and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, serving in the Youth Development Sector. I write to you on behalf of the Peace Association of Sidi Allal Bahraoui to request English language books for a community library and literacy center.

The Peace Association of Sidi Allal Bahraoui is a small development association comprised of teachers in the primary and high schools. The association has strong roots in the community, having been established in 2003. Over the past 5 years the association has coordinated environmental clean-ups, anti-smoking campaigns, International Women's Day Celebrations and other community enrichment activities. In collaboration with the Peace Corps Volunteer, the association received funding to establish a tri-lingual library and literacy center. The library will have books in English, Arabic and French and will benefit all members of the community, primarily youth and women.

In Sidi Allal Bahraoui, much like all of Morocco, access to English language books and texts has become increasingly important. All students take English in high school and increased English reading materials will help students in their classes and improve their chances of succeeding on the English portion of the Baccalaureate exam. High levels of English help facilitate the job search and there is a wealth of information available in English books, newspapers and magazines. It is for these reasons that the Peace Association requests English language books for their library.

Children's books, short stories or Young Adults Novels are most appropriate, in addition to magazines and elementary school text books. However, any donations are greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your consideration and generosity.

Sincerely,

Marcus Haymon

Peace Corps Volunteer - Sidi Allal Bahraoui, Morocco

Youth Development Sector, 2006 - 2008

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We're thrilled to be working with this new library, and we're going to be sending books very soon!

Reply to Marcus:

Dear Marcus,

Today we packed two boxes of mostly children's books to ship to Morocco. We are thoroughly enthusiastic about being able to make a contribution to the new library, and we think it's a great establishment. We wish you all the best.

Sincerely,
Bookaneers

Allies

Today we met Mrs. Murphy from Better World Books; she was very nice and helpful. She lent us a scanner which tells us which books are acceptable to be sent to Indiana so Better World Books can redistribute them through a selected beneficiary, in our case the National Center for Family Literacy. As for the books that aren't acceptable, she gave us a useful link that lists places nearby in need.
It's really awesome to collaborate with fellow book recycling enthusiasts!

We have overseas aims too: Marcus Haymon is currently in the Peace Corps in Morocco, and he's starting a new library, so we're conversing on sending some books over; it's exciting to be able to make an international difference.

We have more plans, so stay tuned!

Thanks, everyone.

Books Galore

Today, four of the crew, Kelsey B., Rebecca M., Tanya N., and Kathy N., met in the Nguyens' garage for three hours to organize the books and discuss plans. Here are some photos!

before

So we are over halfway to reaching our goal! This is fantastic! Thanks so much for all the help!

Rebecca M. is going to see about getting collection boxes set up at her dance place and Music Matters; she'll also contact her grandmother's library that might be able to use donations. Kelsey B. is going to try to talk to the Roswell Neighbor paper to see if they can help us with publicity and connections. Josh H., our newest member(!), is establishing his own neighborhood drive, which is awesome, and Biplab P. hopes to do the same. Elisabeth D. is going to message some hospitals involved with the Reach Out and Read program. We'll also call some women's shelters and contact other potential donation sites, such as universities. In addition, Marcus, a Peace Corps member who is building a library in Morocco, has expressed interest in receiving some children's books, which would be great. Asif L. will contribute some books sometime in the near future, and we know of others who have more, too.

Our effort is really starting to show, so let's keep up the progress! We would love if people would host drives in their own circles, spread the word, and help us with securing donation locations. Merci beaucoup!