How You Can Help in the Time You Have
Under 30 minutes:
An hour or two:
A few days:
A few weeks:
A year or more:
- Love coffee?! We'd love if you'd post our "Give a Book. Build a Future" flyer for us at your favorite coffee place. (Download at the bottom of this page.)
- Tell your friends, your family and your neighbors that we are THE place where they can donate books in Chicago. Just shoot an email to booksfirst01@gmail.com for drop-off details.
- Get the word out by friending us on our Facebook page and follow us so our posts appear on your page.
- If you know anyone in the media…a reporter, a stringer, a columnist…tell them about us.
An hour or two:
- Engage your kids in cleaning out their bookshelves of gently loved, but no longer read books. We’ll send them our BooksFirst! thank you card to hang on the family fridge.
- Instead of gifts, ask birthday party attendees to bring gently loved books. We’ll be happy to send each child a BooksFirst! thank you card (yeah, one fewer thank you card for you to write!)
- Become a BooksFirst Transport Angel. Angels pick up and deliver books to our recipient school.
A few days:
- Hold a book drive for BooksFirst! at your school. We can give you a flyer and a guide based upon prior successful book drives.
A few weeks:
- Become a BooksFirst! donor school. We collect books for schools with 15% or more homeless kids. These kids need books, backpacks, school supplies. We’ll take the gently loved ones your school no longer needs and give them new homes.
A year or more:
- Become a BooksFirst! drop off site. We currently have four drop off sites on Chicago's Northside. We can never have too many. This is a substantial commitment…it is seldom convenient, frequently grubby and always unpaid. Yet, if kids who most need them going without books keeps you up at night, the rewards are incalculable.