Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Regular families building libraries in the most underserved schools.


--by booksfirst01, posted Oct 21, 2015
In 2012, I started collecting kids' books from my friends to help create a library in a school without one. In about 18 months, I had collected roughly 3,000 books and given them to two other schools without libraries.

In January, 2014, two other families joined mine and we founded booksfirstchicago.org To date, we have collected over 15,000 gently loved kids' books and given them to another 7 schools impacting the lives of 7,000 of the city's poorest kids.

We just use our homes as drop off points and volunteers we find via our Facebook page to deliver books. In each of our recipient schools, at least 20% of the kids are homeless, which prevents them from even having a library card. We feel that just through our individual family efforts and the donations of over 300 other families, we are making a difference.
1125 Reads

Readers Comments

kjoyw wrote: This is such a fabulous story! Why isn't this on the national news? You all should let them know. People want and need to hear these kinds of stories!!
mindyjourney wrote: You and the other volunteers/donators are making a HUGE kindness difference :))). Thank you for seeding these schools with libraries <3 and more knowledge :)).
KindMyst wrote: What most amazing service. It is a labor of love and kindness.
KindMyst wrote: I went to the website. This is just extraordinary. Thank you to you and the families that collect books for homeless children and under served schools without libraries. http://www.booksfirstchicago.org/how-you-can-help.html
savraj wrote: Such a wonderful difference to those without books. This is so wonderful!
Mish wrote: Awesomely wonderful ! Bless.
leoladyc728 wrote: wonderful. keep these kids reading.
terre wrote: You are doing amazing work! Thank you so much. Reading has saved my life, or at least made it bearable during times when nothing else was there for me. I agree with kjoyw that your story need a broader audience. We NEED to share such positive stories.
AndiCas wrote: That truly is an amazing initiative. Thankyou so much for organising these libraries. Every child should have access to books.
splain wrote: wow,wow and more wow. what an amazing thing to do.

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