BOOK
BASH BENEFIT
At a recent book party for the debut poetry collection
of Frank Giampietro (author of Begin Anywhere)
and Julianna Baggott's first novel under the pen name
Bridget Asher (My Husband's Sweethearts), over
$1000 was raised for Kids in Need - Books in Deed.
Book fairies--who have received books through Kids in
Need - Books in Deed's partnership with Hartsfield Elementary
School (a Title I school in Tallahassee) and have delivered
gifts of books to their classmates--were on hand to talk
about how the program has affected their school and their
own reading lives.
Thank you to all who came out to support the event.
If you missed the party and would like to make a tax deductible
gift, you can make the check payable to:
Kids in Need - Books in Deed, Fund #0430
And send it to:
The FSU Foundation
2010 Levy Avenue
PO Box 3062739
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2739
BOOK
DONATIONS
Hundreds
of books have been donated to the Gadsden County Health
Department. These books are brought directly into the
homes of underprivileged children and also offered for
free as part of a take-and-keep library. This is an ongoing
effort. Spanish titles are currently needed. Contact jcbaggott@aol.com
if you'd like to help.
Generosity at Work!
Over the last year, Holy Comforter Episcopal
School in Tallahassee, Florida has collected over 2900
books over the course of two enormous book drives! An
amazing record of generosity.
The elementary school at Holy Comforter led the charge,
donating approximately 1100 books last year, under the
leadership and guidance of fourth-grade teacher Laura
Powell. They were rewarded with a visit from author N.E.
Bode.
This year, the middle school took up the charge. They
have collected a total of 1,807 books. Danielle Spies,
sixth and seventh grade language arts teacher at Holy
Comforter, organized and inspired this effort. This new
collection of books has gone to children in Gadsden County
and two Title I schools in Tallahassee.
We thank the students at Holy Comforter for their hard
work and generosity! Thank you for lending literacy a
helping hand!
South
West Senior High School Collects Over 100 Books for Students
Students
at South West Senior High School in Miami collected over
one hundred new and lightly used books for students at
West Miami Middle School. Twenty-two brand new books --
in their Spanish translations, including Ida B. and The
Young Man and the Sea -- are also on their way! A special
thanks to the students at South West as well as to the
media specialist, Ms. Medina-Fernandez, at West Miami!
Kids in Need - Books in Deed was able to get a free paperback
copies of The Anybodies for the sixth graders at Dowdell
Middle School, a Title I school in central Florida. N.E.
Bode donated a visit to the school while on tour in the
area. This was made possible by Josh Newhouse, the media
specialist at Dowdell, who is dedicated to his students
and the promotion of literacy.
Renaissance
Academy Donates the Efforts of Their Book Drive to Cox
Elementary
Renaissance
Academy in New Port Richey, Florida, recently had
a book drive that brought in enough new and lightly used
books to give a free book to every child in Cox Elementary
School
-- all 520 of them! Cox Elementary School is a school
in need, serving a large migrant population in neighboring
Dade City. A special thanks to Dr. Janine Caffrey, founder
of Renaissance Academy and Drive
Institute for inspiring generosity in her students!
Book for International Goodwill (B.I.G) Makes
Generous Donation
Also, Hanna Columbey's students at Florida City Elementary
School in Miami-Dade received nine boxes of books, DVDs,
audio and video tapes, including approximately 160 new
Spanish children's books. The generous donations came
from Books
for International Goodwill (B.I.G.). For over twelve
years, B.I.G. "has successfully recycled used books
for productive use by those who need books for schools
and libraries to improve literacy in developing communities
around the world." Some of the books were used to
boost the library and others went straight to the students
themselves. As Ms. Columbey put it, " ... it was
like an early
Christmas."
Books
Collected Just In Time for the Holidays
Swift
Creek Middle School of Tallahassee, Florida has collect
1,407 books -- new and lightly used. These books will
be shipped to Gadsden County and distributed -- just in
time for the holidays -- to students in need. A special
thanks to Ava Lee the Reading Coach and Intensive Reading
Teacher at Swift Creek for inspiring generosity in her
students. As a thank-you, Swift Creek students will be
paid a visit by N.E. Bode, author of The Anybodies
trilogy.
Christmas..."
Miss
Suwannee River Valley Outstanding Teen Revs Up a Huge
Book Drive
Miss Suwannee River Valley Outstanding Teen, nicknamed
Cat, kicked off an enormous Book Drive this summer. She
collected 1,122 books, and is donating 450 of those books,
through Kids in Need - Books in Deed, to Head Start Programs
in Florida: Branford Learning Center, Ft. White Learning
Center, Two Live Oak Learning Centers, Jasper Learning
Center, Jennings Learning Center, Two Lake City Learning
Centers, and Mayo Learning Center. The other books will
be donated to a program serving Iraqi children and other
organizations. We're delighted to be on her donation list!
BOOK
DRIVE SUCCESS STORY
Fourth Graders at Holy Comforter Episcopal School, led
by fourth-grade teacher Laura Powell, brought in over
1100 new and lightly used books to Kids in Need - Books
in Deed. These books will go to students at the Title
I school Gretna Elementary in Gadsden County--one of the
poorest counties in the state--as well as toward building
the library at Hartsfield Elementary, a Title I school
in Tallahassee.
BIG
NEWS!
Ruediger Elementary School in Tallahassee, Florida, has
partnered with Cornerstone Learning Community (www.cornerstonelc.com).
A fundraiser spearheaded by the students at Cornerstone
brought in over $1100. This money will bring free books
to the students at Ruediger in conjunction with author
visits. The first visit was from author N.E. Bode. Ruediger's
fourth graders spent time with the author, enjoyed a Q
and A session, and all got free books -- among the titles
included The Watsons go to Birmingham: 1963,
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Chasing Vermeer, and
Bode's own books The Anybodies and The Nobodies.
This spring author Adrian Fogelin (adrianfogelin.com)
will visit Ruediger's fifth graders. And there are more
authors and free books to come!
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS AUTHORS!
We'd like to thank Sarah Prinneas (sprineas.googlepages.com)
who donated a huge box of wonderfully magical hardback
books. These will go toward building the libraries of
both a Title I elementary school and middle school.
We'd like to thank Nikki Giovanni for donating Poetry
Speaks to Children along with the CD. We intend to
incorporate this book and CD into many of our donation
programs, bringing good poetry into students' lives.
We'd like to thank Elizabeth Lenhard (www.elizabethlenhard.com)
for donating copies of her book Chicks with Sticks
(It's a Purl Thing) in both paperback and hardback.
We'd
like to thank author Laurel Snyder (jewishyirishy.com)
who donated a box of books for early readers to kids in
Gadsden County, one of the poorest counties in Florida.
GENEROSTIY
AT WORK
Emily
Claire Marley-Morris, a rising 10th grader at Sandpoint
High School in Sandpoint, Idaho, collected over 200 books
for the students of Gretna Elementary School in Gretna,
Florida, located in one of the most impoverished counties
in the state. The children of Gretna Elementary School
are hugely thankful!
Thank you, Emily!
BIG
NEWS!
After donating $100 from their own Visiting Author
Series, Cornerstone Learning Community has inspired generosity
by hosting a new student-run fundraiser that raised over
$1100.00 to get more books into more hands! Their donation
will go to providing books for a Title I school in Gadsden
County. Thank you so very much, Cornerstone! Visit them
at: www.cornerstoneLC.com.
Holiday
Book Donations Update
The Holiday Gift Book Brigade was a success! Nearly 250
books went to kids served by Capital City Youth Services.
Visit them at www.ccys.org!
Another box of books geared toward preschoolers went to
expectant mothers participating in Capital Area Healthy
Start Coalition programs. Their mission "is to improve
the lives and health of the babies in our community. Healthy
Start provides services and support to pregnant women
to assure they have healthy thriving babies. In the long
term, Healthy Start works to create solutions for healthier
babies in the future." Visit them at www.capitalareahealthystart.org!
A student at Gilchrist Elementary School of Tallahassee
deserves special recognition. Ursula, a fifth grader,
helped to organize book donations at her school, proving
that one person can make a difference. Thank you!
Anonymous
Donor Sponsors Free Books for a Title I School
An anonymous donor appeared heroically this fall with
a donation of over $1300. That money will provide free
author visits and free books for over 325 students who
qualify for free and reduced lunch at a Title I school
here in Leon County.
Announcing
the Gift Book Brigade:
How
to give the gift of a book to a child this holiday season
This fall, Melanie Carty, Director of Outreach and Development
of Capital City Youth Services, got in touch with Kids
in Need - Books in Deed, wondering if we could partner
with her organization in some way. Capital City Youth
Services operates an 18-bed shelter—among others
programs—that serves 10-17 year old youth in crisis
and their families in the Big Bend area (Leon, Wakulla,
Gadsden, Franklin, Madison, Taylor, Jefferson and Liberty
counties). They typically see between 400 and 500 children
a year through the shelter program. All of their services
are provided free of charge.
We thought this was a wonderful opportunity to get books
into the hands of children and teens who may not have
books of their own. So far Kids in Need - Books in Deed
has donated fifty new books for the holiday season as
well as books donated by young adult novelists Emily Franklin
and Megan McCafferty. But we haven't yet even really begun.
We will continue to ask authors to donate new copies of
their own titles and to hit up publishing houses for free
books and discounts, but we are also hoping for financial
donations from friends of Kids in Need - Books in Deed,
friends like you.
Give a gift book:
To buy a book for a child this holiday season, send a
check to:
Kids in Need – Books in Deed
Attn: Nancy Smilowitz
Senior Director of Development
Office of the Dean College of Arts & Sciences
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1280
We do not accept donations of used books. If you have
used books that you'd like to find a good home for, please
contact us and we can get you connected to donation opportunities.
If you would like to specify a certain book to go along
with your donation, we will try to work with you to get
copies of that book for the most discounted price. Please
send an email so we can be in touch. We will be working
with a number of the authors from our list of Participating
Authors so that we can get the books signed and inscribed,
but we will not be limited to this list and will certainly
be looking for the best books at the best prices so that
we can serve as many children as possible.
If you are an author:
If you are an author who would like to donate your own
books, thanks so much for thinking of us. Please do not
use the FSU Foundation address for donations. Instead
please contact Julianna Baggott for specific mailing instructions.
And we would love for you to sign your books, maybe even
add a funny, smart, inspiring inscription.
If you are an adult author interested in donating books,
please get in touch. We have opportunities here as well.
