GIVE Project at Children’s Book Bank

February 20, 2020 BY Meagan Tuhy

What is your favorite childhood book? Mine is Corduroy. Or maybe The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I had tens and tens of books to choose from as a child. I also had people who could and would read to me. However, I learned last Tuesday evening, at The Children’s Book Bank, that often children, specifically in lower-income households, do not have multiple books or even one book from which to read. 

In low-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children is one book for every 300 children.
Middle-income neighborhoods average 13 age-appropriate books per child.

Thanks to our coordinator Jordan Lusk and our THF GIVE Committee, I and three fellow THFers (plus a mini THFer by the name of Nicholas) were able to sit at the Children’s Book Bank and help to provide clean, well-kept, diverse, and even a few Spanish version books that will ultimately be packed into green bags, 14 per bag, and delivered to kids in Portland through Head Start, schools, clinics, and other agencies. The program is called Building Home Libraries and our volunteer efforts will help to bring books into the homes of many school-aged kids. 

 
What I loved about this activity was that we were trained on how to examine and clean the books, we were provided adequate tools (glue, tape, pens, sticky sheets, scissors, cleaning supply, etc), we were able to sit and chat and work on the books, we were surrounded by helpful volunteers, and it is an activity anyone aged 10 to 80 can do! 
 
I would gladly do this activity again and would love to give more THFers the opportunity to participate!
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