Our store has been blessed by holiday book angels, more than a hundred of them this year. Book angels are the people who bought books from our snowflake tree. Each snowflake represented a child who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten a book this holiday season. Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of our customers, we helped select, wrapped and delivered well over 150 books to kids in need.
Our book angel program started years ago when we worked with the Charlotte Food Shelf. Our goal was to give every family who used the Food Shelf during the holidays some books. We’d get the ages and sex of the kids (no first names, as ours is a very small town, and there needed to be some anonymity) and we’d make paper snowflakes for each child. Customers would pick a snowflake, buy a book or two at a discount, and we’d wrap and deliver the books to the Food Shelf in time for the holiday basket delivery.
The first year we had maybe 25 kids. This year, we worked with the Food Shelf, the Lund Family Center and the Northeast Family Institute. We had more than 90 kids who needed books, a high number that represents just what this economic downturn has done to families. The nicest part of this program was the families who picked books together, and seeing eager nine-year-olds carefully selecting their favorite books in the hopes that another child would like as much as they did.
I’d love to hear what kinds of programs other stores do. My other favorite part of the Snowflake program is I get to wear a Santa hat, pretty much every day, and that’s a good thing.
What a wonderful program. I congratulate you and your customers on doing some that could, quite “literally,” change a child’s life.
I love this! What a wonderful idea, Josie. Cheers to you and to all your lovely customers who helped bring the gift of books to kids!
Josie, Did you manage to get any photos of your tree? I’d love to see it and pitch it to my GM for next year. Jane
Borders and the White House are doing Toys for Tots. People have been very generous. It has made me more generous to see other people being generous, generosity is contagious.
Josie, I love that you do this. I’ve done it with Project Angel Tree, but rarely do the kids ask for books. I’m so happy you’ve embraced a program specifically for books. Because, as we all know, books have the ability to transport us, to let us dream – an important part of this season.
My mom is a fourth grade teacher and this year her elementary school did Toys for Tots, but the way they did it was to show a holiday movie and invite the fourth and fifth graders to come and as the price of admission either donate a toy or a few dollars. They raised $600 to purchase toys, and a good amount of that was kids donating a few precious dollars or their own Christmas shopping money. And of course the parents contributed as well. But what a great program!