3rd Graders Help Donate 7,000 Books to Bernie’s Book Bank

This following article is from the Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago. Find the original article here.

Congratulations to our 3rd grade for a very successful mitzvah project! For the third year in a row, the 3rd graders spearheaded a book donation drive, with the proceeds going to Bernie’s Book Bank. Bernie’s collects, processes and distributes quality new and gently used children’s books to significantly increase book ownership among at-risk infants, toddlers and school-age children throughout Chicagoland.

The school-wide drive lasted three weeks and started with a goal of collecting 3,000 books. This goal was quickly updated when it was met halfway through the drive. This was really exciting for everyone including Bernie’s Book Bank since they had to come for two pick ups; one in the middle of the drive and a second one at the end! The total was close to 7,000 books which will benefit many children during Bernie’s twice yearly book bag giveaway. The 3rd graders did all the counting, sorting, stacking and packing the books to get them ready for pick up, and they will visit Bernie’s Book Bank in the next few weeks to pack for the spring book donation.

Thank you to all the students and families who did such an amazing job collecting books. Students went to their shuls, neighbors, friends, and even reached out to book sellers and other shops to collect donations. Perhaps even more meaningful was how many children went home and pulled books from their own collections to share with needy children. Thank you to entire 3rd grade team for their work in making this mitzvah project so successful and meaningful: Ilene Brot, Missy Friedman, Ruti Halpern, Sam Kaplan, Amy Kramer, Yvonne Steffens and Yehudit Wolf.

Check out more pictures on their Facebook page.