Kiwanis Needs Storage Space to Maintain Kids Book Program

Help Kiwanis Save Our Book Program for Kids in Need

For nearly 2 years, the Kiwanis Club of Point Pleasant has facilitated the collection of books for BookSmiles, a non-profit organization that brings books to children in need from the greater Philly area. We host book donation bins in the area and coordinate volunteers every 2 weeks to transport books from the bins to a local storage unit. About every 2 months, BookSmiles drives up to empty the storage unit, bringing books back to their warehouse.

The storage unit costs have doubled since we began, and is now over $200/month.

This program gives so much to the community (and the kids who receive free books!):

• A place to donate kids and adult books--we know they get into hands who need them. (BookSmiles trades every adult book donated for a kids book, which are then given to kids.)
• Keeps books out of landfills.
• Lowers costs to the towns and taxpayers, who may otherwise have to pay to recycle books.
• Gives opportunities for people to volunteer. Local families and school groups often transport books.

We want to be able to continue this program, but we need your help. To do it, we need:

• A local storage space to hold 4 pallets and containers/gaylords on top of them--about 10' x 10'.
• Access to the unit every 2 weeks, preferably on Saturdays, so volunteers can load books into the large containers, which are about 4' x 4'.
• Space so the BookSmiles box truck can pull up and load the gaylords onto it. BookSmiles has a pallet jack and will handle all the loading.
• Or a year’s worth of money to continue operating out of the storage unit (a temporary fix).

BookSmiles and Kiwanis are willing to work with you to make sure this doesn’t interfere with your operations.

If your business is interested, please contact us ASAP at pointpleasantkiwanis@gmail.com