There are many ways to part with books your children have outgrown. You can give them to family or friends with children younger than your own. You can sell them at a charity consignment sale. You can donate used children’s books to a local thrift store or women’s shelter. You can also donate them to your child’s daycare or preschool or to your family’s church.
Those are all great ideas and ones that will surely help kids who need access to books. But if you are looking to donate your used children’s books a different way, how about this idea? Donate your books to an organization that will pass them along to low-income children and help establish children’s libraries at hospitals, community centers, and schools in the poorest neighborhoods across our country and around the world.
Consider these possibilities:
· Darien Book Aid Plan. Established in 1949 by a group of women living in Darien, Connecticut, this non-profit organization is run by 40 volunteers (men included!) and has shipped more than 3 million books to 180 countries. They mainly send books via Peace Corps volunteers and to schools and other institutions abroad; however, they also donate books within the U.S., including to Appalachian and Native American groups. They generally do accept gently used children’s books, but you should still contact them before making your donation.
· Half Price Books’ Half Pint Library. Half Price Books established the Half Pint Library project in 1999. Since then, Half Price Books has distributed more than 1.5 million donated books, and created 75 Half Pint Libraries at hospitals and community centers through the U.S. Gently used children’s books are accepted at Half Price Book stores (which are located in 14 states) from January through March of each year.
· The International Book Project. Following a trip to India in 1965, Harriet Van Meter launched this ambitious literacy project in the basement of her Lexington, Kentucky home. Since then, this non-profit organization has distributed more than 5 million books to over 100 countries, including the U.S. Mrs. Van Meter was a finalist for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. Gently used children’s books are accepted, but review their rules first.
· Reader to Reader. This non-profit organization was established in 2002 and is based on the campus of Amherst College in Massachusetts. They have distributed 75,000 books to 200 U.S. school libraries, and their goal is to add two new schools each month. In March, Reader to Reader accomplished perhaps its single most ambitious effort: it sent 300,000 books to schools in Louisiana and Mississippi that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Reader to Reader generally accepts gently used books for all reading levels.
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