Reading Challengers Give Back

[Kara]

To participate, pick a charity with a literary or education-related cause you believe in. Volunteer or donate between now and February 28th, then let us know that you participated and what charity you chose (no need to disclose the amount donated). We realize that not everyone has the means or ability to participate, and that's totally okay! This is completely optional. :)

Everyone who participates will be entered into a raffle, and the winner will get a $50 donation to a charity of choice in his or her name.

Some charities to get you started:
First Book
Reach out and Read
Worldreader

But don't limit yourself to these! There are a ton out there, and we'd love to hear which are near and dear to your hearts.

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This thread will open once we hit the 6K member mark.

[Karina]

Here's a picture of the (first) pile of books I've just carried off to a local charity whose work involves providing drug rehab for poor people. (I have SO MANY old books I gain zero happiness from having taking up shelf space I could devote to other things I need space for. Have planned to donate stuff for years. Thanks for the nudge..!)

[Kara]

That is so awesome, Karina! Thanks for kicking us off.

[Karina]

I see now that I didn't really read the guidelines for the challenge. :) But, uh, at least books are involved!

[Kara]

It totally counts! :)

[Kim]

Karina wrote: "Here's a picture of the (first) pile of books I've just carried off to a local charity whose work involves providing drug rehab for poor people. (I have SO MANY old books I gain zero happiness fro..."

That is awesome, Karina. I am trying to think of which way I'd like to donate.

[Ian]

I donated to Shine.

SHINE is an education charity that changes the lives of disadvantaged young people by providing them with extra English and Maths support and creative learning opportunities after school, on Saturdays and in the school holidays.

I think its always important to give back. I always love hearing the story of Dolly Parton, and how she gave back to her home town by helping children to overcome illiteracy by ensuring they were all provided with books (one per month from the day they were born until they enter kindergarten) through her imagination library charity. It reminds me of the power that books have, and how its easy to take it for granted.

Everyone can do something to help - no matter how small. I'll hopefully get round to taking some books down to the charity shop this weekend too.

[ReGina]

As a teacher, I also want to encourage people to volunteer to read at their local elementary school. Children benefit so greatly from hearing someone read. It improves their fluency and increases their enjoyment of reading. Depending on the school district, there are different criteria for volunteering; however, I can assure you that it something teachers and kids alike appreciate!

[Ariel]

Fostering a love for books in our home and a desire to spread that love to others was the best gift my parents passed on to me. Personally, I wouldn't have made it through without books. So, this topic/idea makes me really really really happy.

I've participated in a book sale for this charity before (a long time ago) so I don't know if this counts but I've just set up a monthly donation to Books For Keeps . BFK is a grassroots nonprofit that serves kids in Georgia and surrounding areas by providing books through donations/purchases. On their site you can give individual donations or sponsor a child or classroom by donating a monthly amount. Their goal is to keep children reading, especially during the summer months. You can also receive their newsletter in order to find events you can volunteer at or book sales to attend.

I haven't seen a local event yet, I'm hoping there will be a few I can volunteer at coming soon. But my favorite part about BFK is that it was started by a mom who realized there were a lot of children (including her daughter) that didn't have access to books readily so their education took a defined slide during their off months. So they not only provide books, they are currently researching different ways to make access to books easier for all families in a lot of areas.

I'm looking at the listed charities above now. I haven't heard of any of them so yay! :) I went ahead and gave a gift in memoriam for my dad on First Book. This month's the anniversary of his death and I think I'll send the info to other family members who might want to give as well. He was a professor and I think he might have gotten a kick out of it haha.

Excited to see what other charities are mentioned. This is so great!

[Katie]

Hi there! I wanted to do something that was either in my state or metro area. I'm in the STL metro but I am in the state of Illinois. I ended up donating to Chicago Books to Women in Prison. How can people in prison better themselves without books? =)

[Dana]

Hi, great idea. I donated to czech organization People in need. I sent the money to the program that helps socially disadvantaged children - they buy them books and helps them with learning.

[Fabiola]

I live in Mexico, so I gave my books to a public library in a poor part of the city, were they teach indigents, and inmigrants to read. These inmigrants aren't spanish speakers, they come mostly from states in the south of Mexico, and they speak their native tongues, so thats how they learn to read and speak spanish

P.s... Sorry about the writting, english as you can see, is not my First lenguage

[Andrea]

I buy my books from thrift stores that support charities then donate them to my neighborhood little library by the streetcar stop.

[Kara]

I love everyone's ideas! I'm learning about so many different ways to give back. Thank you to everyone who has participated so far!

Our Extravaganza is going through the 15th, so I'm going to expand the participation "deadline" to March 15th.

[Stefani - SpelingExpirt]

I can't find any charities in my area that are focused on tackling illiteracy and because I've lost my job I can't donate any money to the international ones that do so I'm finally going to take the giant pile of books in my living room to local charity shops. I'll be splitting them between the shops that are always struggling for donations (everyone here donates to cancer and kids but ignore the others).

[Kara]

I think that's a great idea, Stefani!

[SibylM]

I gave to four posted projects on DonorsChoose At Donorschoose, public school teachers post discrete projects they are seeking to crowdfund for their classes. All of the projects I gave to involved buying books for their students to read (not textbook type books!) and all were in high-poverty schools. I love DonorsChoose, it's a great way to help children even if you can't afford to give very much at all, and you can choose to support schools in your local community, sponsor projects that match up with your interests (reading/music/science -- whatever your interest is, there is probably a classroom project that involves it somehow) or both!

[Katie]

Stefani - SpelingExpirt wrote: "I can't find any charities in my area that are focused on tackling illiteracy and because I've lost my job I can't donate any money to the international ones that do so I'm finally going to take th..."

That is great!

[Katie]

Sibyl wrote: "I gave to four posted projects on DonorsChoose At Donorschoose, public school teachers post discrete projects they are seeking to crowdfund for their classes. All of the projects I gave to involve..."

Nice! I had not heard of that website!

[Zara's Retreat]

I took some books to my local library to add to their free books section. This section of their library was designed to enable people who were travelling or couldn't afford to buy books to take a book or books for free. I also said that what books they didn't use (there were lots of them) to pass on however they wish. I know one of the libraries I'm a member of will donate books to a group called Para Quad Industries. This is a place that a lot of libraries use to pass on their excess discards. Money raised from the sale of books through this group go to the Para Quad group to help fund them. They're a great group.