As we approach the season of giving, I want to tell you about my favorite charity. Many of you have heard this before, but it continues to impress me as a terrific idea. I refer to Books4Schools.
B4S is a designated fund of the Friends of the Library of Los Altos (and Los Altos Hills, too). When public school teachers register for the program and come to sales, they can “buy” books for their classrooms, but the Books4Schools Fund pays for the books.
The teachers who participate look upon this as a “free books” opportunity. It isn’t. The B4S Fund pays for the books, and the money paid, like all Friends’ money, goes to support library programs. This fund is a way to show teachers that the community supports their classrooms, and that the residents of Los Altos are grateful for the work they do and are fully behind their efforts.
In the past few years B4S has been in existence, approximately 80 teachers have registered to come to Friends of the Library sales and take advantage of this opportunity.
I’m thrilled for several reasons:
• Teachers have shown their dedication by
using their free time to supply their classrooms.
• Our caring community has kept the B4S Fund solvent for our teachers.
• Friends of the Library has developed the program to benefit our schools, our children and our library.
At the last Friends of the Library used-book sale, 14 teachers from 11 schools in both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties “bought” books for their classrooms. Approximately 1,000 books were provided to area public school classrooms and libraries at a cost of $1,500 to the B4S Fund. The books, the vast majority of which were in very good or like-new condition, were all priced either $1 or $2 each. Money spent at the sale goes a long way.
One teacher wrote, “Thank you for hosting a wonderful event. I found many titles for our class. I am especially thankful for all the folktales from around the world.” One school in San Jose was so thrilled, its students sent us thank-you pictures, all variations of the message, “Thank you for the new books; we love them.”
It’s my hope that every Friends of the Library group and every community will develop and support a Books4Schools program.
To donate to Books4Schools and for more information, visit losaltoslibraryfriends.org.
Elayne Dauber is a member of the Friends of the Library of Los Altos.
