Bring us your books for kids
Morning Glory Flower Shop is proud to announce that it is now the exclusive book drop network partner supporting Bernie’s Book Bank serving Glenview and Wilmette.
Bernie’s Book Bank collects, processes and distributes quality used children’s books to at-risk children all over Chicago and its suburbs with the intention of creating book owners and readers for a lifetime. Founded in December 2009, Bernie’s Book Bank has distributed more than 270,000 books to children through schools and other organizations throughout Lake, Cook and DuPage counties.
“My husband Bob and I believe strongly that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed in our society,” says Barb Hausheer, proprietor of Morning Glory Flower Shops. “The most fundamental skill a child needs is the ability to read. And unfortunately, many children grow up in homes without books. We love the work that Bernie’s Book Bank is doing by essentially giving libraries of books to children living in poverty.”
“Children grow out of books as quickly as they grow out of shoes,” says Bernie’s Book Bank Executive Director Brian Floriani. “So the supply of used books is virtually unlimited. We’re so thankful for the support Morning Glory is giving us by becoming a partner in collecting books for at-risk children.”
Books collected for Bernie’s Book Bank are sorted according to reading level, fingerprinted with a Bernie’s Book Bank sticker and delivered to at-risk children within seven days. Children fourth grade and under receive six books in a bag; fifth and sixth grade children receive three books per bag. Every child receives at least two bags of books per year. Because of the support of volunteers and businesses like Morning Glory Flower Shops, the cost to collect, process and deliver books is only $1 per bag of books.
“There are millions of children’s books sitting on bookshelves becoming dusty,” says Floriani. “Through partnerships with businesses like Morning Glory, we can put them into the hands of children who need them the most, quickly and efficiently.”