Holy Family Episcopal Church, located in Laurel Springs, hit it out of the park!  We just picked up a hefty donation of 1,030 books. Many kids in SJ who have few to no books will now have them! Thanks for being such an inspiration, Holy Family. Imagine how many books could have a new life in other children's hands if more houses of worship did what is recounted below by Cathy Brakin, the member who spearheaded the drive:

"Holy Family Episcopal Church is a merger of two smaller congregations.  Back in the spring, our ECW (Episcopal Church Women) group met and discussed how we wanted to take on a service project as a newly-formed entity.  Our wish was to benefit the nearby community.  Lindenwold was mentioned.  I asked my friend and Lindenwold school board member, Jo-Ann Engels, what needs exist in that community.  She told me about BookSmiles.  I checked out the website and videos and presented it to the ECW.   They enjoyed the videos of Mr. Abrams and his pop up book fairs.  We decided to make BookSmiles our mission for the summer.

I was skeptical about how many books we could collect since we are are very small parish with a majority of older folks.  How many would still  have children’s books at home?  Slowly but surely the books started piling up.   One parishioner, Annmarie Cranford, organized a book drive at her place of employment, Martin Law, in Center City.  Books were brought in by members of a painting class that meets at the parish hall.   Families in our “Messy Church” intergenerational ministry carried in bags and boxes of pre-loved books.    

A sorting and packing session was held one afternoon in late August.  As we separated the volumes according to age level, it turned into a party.  Those titles brought back sweet memories.  We reminisced about books we loved as kids as well as those we read to our own children.   “Goodnight Moon is my favorite!”   “Madeline  - what a classic!”  “I want to re-read the entire Nancy Drew series.”  All told, we had collected over 1,000 books. 
We pray that these books will inspire a lifelong love of reading." 

BookSmiles had a special delivery to the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County today.  We brought over 600 books on the last day of the summer session.  About 130 children selected a few books each, fully aware of the importance of building a personal library and eventually donating them back.  A big thanks to Executive Director Bernadette Shanahan  and her staff for slotting us in!  We look forward to many more pop-up bookfairs with the Boys and Girls Club.

Here are a few organizations that contributed LOADS of quality books over the summer: Kellman Brown Academy, Tall Pines Day Camp, and the Goddard School of Medford, 

We want to give a humongous thanks to Betsy Fischer for throwing a fantastic party at her Groove Lounge.  The price of admission?  Each child had to donate at least five books, and we raised 225!

Thank you Classic Cake and The Pretzel Factory for sponsoring the event.

Birthdays and celebrations provide a perfect time to gather new and gently used children's books.  BookSmiles' is determined to give 100 books to every child we reach, with the hope that they become donors themselves. 

We're also thrilled with the way Tall Pines Day Camp gathered 3,600 weeks during its recent week of kindness.    Campers and staff answered the call and donated an impressive number of books within a one week drive.    We're looking forward a fall drive by the JCC Camps at Medford!