Help us make a difference in the lives of our community by hosting a book drive for our Book Brigade.

Together, we can ensure that every child has access to the magical world of books.

Follow these tips to start a book drive in your neighborhood or at your church, business or school.

Before your book drive:

• Identify your volunteers. Recruit a committee of volunteers to assist you with planning and pick-ups on collection day.

• Decide on the logistics.

  • Determine where to hold the book drive. Good locations include: your office, church, small retail businesses or a local school.

  • Choose an appropriate time to hold the book drive. Our goal is to have at least one book drive donation coming in a month.

  • At each collection location, ask for approval from management, and place boxes in a highly visible area.

  • Make sure that each location knows that we are looking for very gently used and new kids books. Adult books are accepted, but we currently receive an abundance of adult books with limited children’s books.

  • Determine the length of your book drive. A typical one lasts for one month.

  • Select how you would like your books delivered to the BBB4E office. If you require pickup, you will need to schedule that with our staff or Book Brigade Ambassadors.

• Organize your materials. You’ll need boxes to distribute to businesses, storage space for the collected books and flyers to advertise your drive. If you would like a flyer made, please let us know! We are more than happy to provide you with a digital flyer.

During your book drive:

• Motivate. Create a raffle or organize a competition to encourage friends, neighbors, other parents, club members and co-workers to donate.

• Spread the word. The most successful way to gather books is to ask your personal network to contribute. Make these requests in person or by phone.

After your book drive:

• Sort your books. Count the number of books you collected and try and sort them out. If a book is in poor condition, it is a huge help to our staff and volunteers if the books are not donated.

• Celebrate. Host a drive-ending celebration to report the total number of books you collected and thank your participants. Take pictures! BBB4E is excited to post about your drive and share with our community as well as yours!

• Debrief. If you plan to hold a drive again in the future, get your committee together to consider what worked and what didn’t.