BookSmiles
  • About Us
    • Contact Team/Location
    • Our Story
    • Board of Directors
    • Employment
    • Blog
  • Register For Books
  • Get Involved
    • Volunteer to Sort
    • Hold a Book Drive
    • Become an Ambassador
    • Painting a Collection Bin
    • Hold a Facebook Fundraiser
  • DONATE
    • Donate Books
    • Estate Libraries
    • Tribute Page
    • Planned Giving >
      • Bequest
      • Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA
      • Life Insurance
      • Other Beneficiary Designation
    • Lifetime Gifts >
      • Gifts of Stock
      • Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA
      • Matching Gifts
  • Press/Media

A Small But Mighty Church

8/30/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
Thanks, Cathy Brackin!
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." 


Picture
Make book sorting into a party as you see here!
1 Comment
Jeff Kirk
9/1/2018 10:44:08 am

This is a wonderful program! Congratulations, Church of the Holy Family!

There's another program like it for migrant-family children in Salinas, CA. There, churches provide age-appropriate books to individual classrooms so that older children may read them to their younger siblings. It's called "Read to Me," and has been going many years. The idea might be applicable to any school and any classroom of children where parents may lack reading skills. The program was started some years ago by a member of St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in Carmel Valley, CA, where my brother currently serves as Junior Warden.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Location

7300 North Crescent Blvd,
​Unit 10, Pennsauken, NJ 08110

 HOURS

Look for our 24/7 collection bins outside
Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Sunday 9:00 AM-3:00 PM




FOLLOW Us

CONTACT US: CLICK HERE

  • About Us
    • Contact Team/Location
    • Our Story
    • Board of Directors
    • Employment
    • Blog
  • Register For Books
  • Get Involved
    • Volunteer to Sort
    • Hold a Book Drive
    • Become an Ambassador
    • Painting a Collection Bin
    • Hold a Facebook Fundraiser
  • DONATE
    • Donate Books
    • Estate Libraries
    • Tribute Page
    • Planned Giving >
      • Bequest
      • Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA
      • Life Insurance
      • Other Beneficiary Designation
    • Lifetime Gifts >
      • Gifts of Stock
      • Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA
      • Matching Gifts
  • Press/Media