Someone at Legal Aid responded to my column about donating books. She says that Legal Aid would love gently used books. Here’s an email from Kim Maier, Executive Director of the Old Stone House, who spoke with the woman from Legal Aid.
They’d love book donations and will take deliveries
at 111 Livingston, between Bergen and Court,
at the front desk beween 8:30-5:30, Monday-Friday.
The Brooklyn borough office of the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society (LAS) has put into place the “Books for Kids” project. The LAS Books for Kids Project strives to help foster children, ages zero to twenty-one, enjoy the benefits of reading and understanding the importance of creating a “home library.” We would like to give you the opportunity to participate in this program for our clients, who are, for the most part, impoverished children in foster care.
In partnering with LAS Juvenile Right Division, you will be contributing to a long history of public service for New York’s youth. For over 125 years, the Legal Aid Society (LAS) has served the poor and underprivileged. The LAS Juvenile Rights Division represents 90% of the children who appear in New York City Family Court, including children who have been abused and neglected by their caretakers, and have been thrust into the foster care system.
The Books for Kids program was designed to provide books for children who come to the LAS office to meet with their law guardians and social workers. Our on-site volunteer grandparent, Ms. Wright, comes to us through the NYC Dept. for the Aging, and oversees the office’s reading corner, which is located in the office waiting area. Three days each week Ms. Wright reads to children, and encourages caregivers to read with their children. Every child is invited to take a book home, to jumpstart their own home libraries. Ms. Wright serves as a model to caregivers, demonstrating how books and reading can be a part of their life with their child.
We are asking for your help in collecting new and gently-used books for our reading corner. Your assistance in this would provide an invaluable service for our clients, and provide them with the opportunity to read their own books. Thank you for your interest and help.
What kind of books? For what purpose?