The 23rd annual “Give a Kid a Book” project is underway at the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire and will run until just before Christmas.
The Friends of the Library, a nonprofit volunteer group that supports the Library, is collecting new, unwrapped books for distribution to children and teens through local agencies. Last year, the program distributed over 4,000 books.
Project partners, in addition to the Library, are Books-A-Million, the Salvation Army and more than a dozen other Eau Claire agencies. Their efforts are aimed at making sure that every eligible child receives a new book during the holiday season.
Monetary contributions as well as books can be delivered to the Library during its regular hours. Donations can be placed under the evergreen tree in the Library from Dec. 1 through Dec. 23.
The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Online donations can be made through this link and checks can be mailed to Friends of LEPMPL, 400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire 54701. Volunteers from Friends of the Library will shop for books with the donated funds.
Books-A-Million is also hosting a book drive for this project, through Dec. 16.
Suggestions for books to donate include board books for babies, easy picture books for ages 2 to 5, and fiction and non-fiction books for ages 6 to 18. Audiobooks for all ages up to 18, and books written in Spanish and Hmong also are needed.
More information is available from Maria Baroni at friendsofthelibrary@eauclaire.lib.wi.us or by calling 715-831-5301.
Additional partners in this project include Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Northwestern Wisconsin; the Community Table; Eau Claire Academy; several separate groups within the Eau Claire Area School District; two Literacy Chippewa Valley programs; Family Promise of the Chippewa Valley; UW-Eau Claire’s Eclipse program; the Family Resource Center; Helping Kids around the Chippewa Valley; the Title 1 Reading Partnership Program; and Western Dairyland’s Early Headstart for Eau Claire County.