Got Plans This Saturday?

My camera has died.  So, no photos today.  I'm sad, too.  Hopefully, I'll have some for you on Thursday.  In the meantime, you'll just have to keep guessing about what I did this past Saturday.  (I know.  I'm evil.  You'll adjust.)

Instead, I wanted to share the news of a really cool event that some Canadian authors I know (and others I don't know) are participating in this week.  It's called "Airlift to L.A.", and it's the brainchild of children's author Helaine Becker, who is working in conjunction with Access Books and four other authors (Rob Weston, Kari-Lynn Winters, Jill Murray, and Wendy Kitts - who has a picture book coming out soon with Nimbus Press) to bring hundreds of books to Bunche Elementary in the Compton Unified School District on October 2nd, 2010.  (That's this Saturday, guys!  And click those links back there to check out their author blogs and websites - pretty great stuff!)

Why Bunche Elementary?  Because their library has about 3 books for every kid who attends the school.  3.  A tiny fraction of what they should have.  And 90 % of the kids who go to this school live at or below the poverty line, which means school is probably the only place they have access to books at all.  Their library shelves are practically empty.  Not only that, but these kids, who have so little and whose lives are so challenging, need books more than anyone - to escape the daily hardship they endure, to know that they are not alone, and to see that the world can hold more for them than this.  I know this need.  We can't ignore it.

So, what can you do?  If you live in the L.A.area, you can volunteer to help paint the refurbished library and stack their new books on the shelves.  Remember, that's THIS SATURDAY, October 2nd, at 9 AM.

If you're busy this weekend but live in the L.A. area, you can volunteer with Access Books (who provide books for dozens of impoverished schools in Southern California) and help with marketing, publicity, or a myriad of other things.

If you're nowhere near the L.A. area (like me), you can hold a book drive, donate books, or simply help out by donating some cash.

Just do something.  Then, leave a comment about it.  And spread the word!

Library Fundraising Wrap-up

In our Library-loving Blog Challenge last week, we managed to raise $62 for local libraries. Yay us!

In other news, I have had family staying since last Thursday, and will continue to do so until Next Saturday, so while I'll try to post a few times between now and then, I'll be around a little less than my usual 2-3 times per week. My apologies.

Thanks for stopping by.

Library Fundraising Challenge: GO!

Hey all,

I'm taking part in my first library-loving blog challenge!

Who doesn't know a library that can use a few extra dollars here and there? Probably nobody. Who wants to help a library (or a lot of libraries) raise some extra dosh, at no cost to you, with just a few clicks? Everyone? Great!

Here's the skinny: for every commenter who comments on this blog between now and midnight on March 27th, with something you like about libraries, I will donate one dollar to my local library, The Brampton Public Library.

How easy could it be? You comment, I cough up the money, the library gets a gift! It doesn't get much easier than that.

Note that my pledge is “per commenter”—so if a single person leaves 50 comments, that still only counts once! But you can do more by spreading the word ... So, LINK! TWEET! SEND PEOPLE HERE! More people = more comments = more cash for libraries.

If you want to make a flat-fee donation to your library, or to start your own challenge, you are quite welcome to do so; please leave that information in the comments, with a link to your own blog if that's how you are going to do it.

For a complete list of participating bloggers (and to visit other sites where you can help libraries just by leaving a comment!) visit the writerjenn blog at http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/

And thanks for taking part!

P.S. I've had a thought: I'll only give the first $50 to my local library. The rest will go to my old High School, Walnut Hills High School. They run a great program there - especially the English program - and they could always use some extra cash.