Board Treasurer Heidi Bahnck has one of the coolest jobs around: being a senior editor at NFL Films. She initiated a book drive at NFL Flim's Mount Laurel headquarters, invited the BookSmiles crew over for a tour, and brought her team over for some sorting.  Thank you Heidi, for ALL that you do!

The tour of NFL Films inspired our BookSmiles team.  NFL Films was started in the early 1960s.  Founder Ed Sabol loved filming his son Steve playing football.  He approached the NFL with a $4000 investment for filming rights, convincing them that he could package the clips to ramp up viewership on TV. When Steve joined him, after graduating from college, the business skyrocketed.  A talented, artist and athelete, Steve helped his dad transform a football game into high-energy storytelling with commentary, pizzaz, and music.  NFL Films was instrumental in building the NFL into the multi-billion dollar juggernaut that it is today. 

Terry Gross, of Fresh Air with Terry Gross fame has often been called a national treasure. And BookSmiles collects book-wealth by the tractor-trailer load.
We are so proud to partner with WHYY and its educational arm, which will distribute tens of thousands of books across the Delaware Valley, particularly in underserved communities.
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How can you help? Inspire a young person to start a book drive, especially if you live in a middle class or affluent district. See our website for details! https://www.booksmiles.org/

We are so grateful that the nonprofit Matt’s Kindness Ripples On granted us money to commission a bin in Matt Kurtz's memory. You must read about his life and legacy of kindness: https://mattskindnessrippleson.com/

And check out our local coverage in The Cherry Hill Sun: https://tinyurl.com/4czhrdtz

We're looking for a special bin custodian to manage and market this bin, ensuring that it fills constantly with great kids books! Know of a location?
Thank you Leah at 168 Tattoo for your art and passion.

Brandon Graham has been a powerful Eagle since 2010 but has been a passionate reader all his life. We are so grateful to partner with Deptford Mall , which established a permanent collection book collection site at Center Court. This mall has helped us gather 2,500 kid's books over the last month.
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What a joy to have a fill-the-truck collection at their Football Fest!
#philadelphiaeagles #bookcollection #childrensbooks #BrandonGraham #philanthropy

Our first 5K is a wrap! A huge thanks to the 202 runners and walkers, along with our AMAZING, GENEROUS sponsors.

Rob Abrams, this was your idea and you planned and executed like a boss.
Congrats to Michael Bond with a 16:09 first place male finish and Mackenzie Green with a 19:16 first place female finish!

And we loved having Coaty, the Delaware Blue Coats mascot prance around, and Miss Pennsylvania's Teen and BooKSmiles Ambassador Lizzie Shacklett for passing out medals!
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Enjoy the pics! To see more, check out this link: https://tinyurl.com/cudewvb3

Senator Troy Singleton, who is on our Board of Directors, shows up to work at the Book Bank. Here's what he has to say about books and children's literacy:

Spreading “literacy love” has been a goal of mine since taking public office. From our annual “Jump Into Reading Challenge” to reading to kids in classrooms, I am always seeking ways to encourage our kids to read. To that end, for nearly three years, I have partnered with BookSmiles and Larry. For those who are not familiar with this non-profit, Larry and his team collect unwanted children’s books and give them to kids who may not have their own home libraries. In essence, they are redistributing book wealth. In the past we’ve collected thousands of books for them, sorted and packed huge donations of books, found a home for a large-scale donation, and invited them to join us at our summer lunch events to give away bags of books to kids. Want to get involved or learn more? 
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Houses of worship are the best at doing book drives.  We love collections that harvest thousands of children's books, but did you know that we also accept grown-up books? We send many of them to food banks and adult ed. programs.   But we also have partners that turn the rest into revenue that helps cover our operating expenses.  Let's get books into the hands of other book-lovers and help our mission.

Check out the the results of a two week drive by the St. Joan of Arc Church in Marlton.   We were happy to use our truck to pick up over 4000 books!

Please contact us at larry@booksmiles.org if you know of an organization willing to do a big drive!

Our Mix and Mingle last night, co-sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Greater Mount Laurel, NJ was powerfully fun! We gave love to teachers, youth ambassadors, nonprofits, partners, donors, bin-bosses, and sorting volunteers from all over Philly/NJ. It takes a tribe to harvest, sort, and distribute mountains of upcycled books to the kids we serve... and who you see here is a small fraction of it.

​And the band Strange Velvet, founded by Larry's former student, set the mood.
Plans are already in the works for a gala that will let us host 3x as many friends.
Mercer Street Friends, Bridgeview Foundation Inc. Babybsoothed Strange Velvet

I graduated from The College of New Jersey with my Masters of Teacher in 1995.  Returning nearly 30 years later to give away 3000 books to soon-to-graduate teachers was intoxicating. 

​Every teacher should start their career with a robust classroom library.  This makes it easy to pass the book-wealth along to children living in book deserts.  No child should feel poor when book fairs come to visit their school!  And new teacher has enough to worry about without wondering how not to spend big bucks on classroom books!

One plus to having a larger book bank is fitting 43 high school students for a day of public service. Never before did we host so many people at once, but these scholars from Hammonton High School made it work. We had a blast sorting!
Contact larry@booksmiles.org or message us if you'd like to visit the book bank with your school or group.
And check out one of Larry's first forays into making a TikTok!
​ https://www.tiktok.com/@booksmiles/video/7221655045555719467