Where I Went:
Last week, I volunteered with The Children’s Book Bank and sorted through some of the 100,000 books donated to Portland’s low-income children. You can read all about that experience here.
First Impressions:
When I began my 2012 experiment to volunteer different places in the community, I made an effort not to repeat the same assignment two weeks in a row. But you know me – I’m a rebel. Even if it means rebelling against my own made up rules.
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| All of these boxes still need to be sorted through. |
The Children’s Book Bank needs a ton a help in a short amount of time, so I broke my rule for a good reason. Last year, CBB processed and delivered 95,000 books in 12 months. Right now, they need to get through 100,000 books in 2 weeks.
The Job:
This week, I went skipped the orientation and went straight back to the sorting tables. I grabbed handfuls of already cleaned chapter books and put them in piles according to grade level.
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| These didn’t make the cut. |
Thankfully, another volunteer had been assigned to this task. Marci, a former Children’s Librarian, for Multnomah County and I chatted and shared our love of children’s literature.
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| Marci loves this book. I love good children’s literature recommendations! |
I also ran into MynameisEarl, whom I met during my first experience with CBB way back in February. Even though we’ve only met in person once, I feel like I know Earl through his own blog and through the wonder of Twitter and Facebook. How did I have friends before social media?
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| MynameisEarl…may be the next big name in kid lit. |
My two hours helping with CBB at the Memorial Colosseum flew by. I only made a small dent in the thousands of books still waiting to be organized, but I take comfort in the fact that at least a few hundred more will make it into the homes of low-income Portland students.
How to Help:
Just 4 more days remain to sort, clean, and pile books for distribution. If you have any time this week, sign up on Hands On Portland’s link for a shift. Every set of hands will ensure more children will be given books of their very own.
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So glad that you were able to go back and help. Such a great organization with an enormous project to complete!
It was great seeing you again! It's weird that only met that one time, but it's seemed like we've known each other quite awhile. And I would think one of the best things about your project is not only discovering to places to volunteer at but finding the ones that you become an advocate for!