Americorps

Fall 2015
Project Proposal
Project

Americorps Book Drive 2015

What

We are hoping to create an event to collect new and used

pre-school/kindergarten level books to donate to the
children in the Head Start/ECEAP classrooms we serve.

Why

By running a book drive, we get the chance to change a

childs life for the better. Giving a child a book and the
opportunity to read and/or be read to is amazing. Books
provided by our drive will not only enrich the families of
Head Start/ECEAP via a great way to spend time together,
but will also improve literacy in the home, which is vital to
developing strong literacy skills at school (and in
everyday life as an adult).

Objective
s

We are planning to host a book drive and receive enough

books for each of our children to take home at least one
book. This means we will need approximately 400 books
that fit the criteria (secular, developmentally and age
appropriate, in good condition, and not from a corporate
entity (i.e. Disney)). We would like to hold this book drive
from December 7th until January 4th. Our timeline of
events is as follows:
11/30- team meeting
11/30- turn in proposal
11/30- create posters
11/30- print posters
12/7- posters hung
12/7- bins deposited
12/7- businesses and authors contacted (at least
by now)
Bi-weekly- bins checked and books removed to
office
1/4- bins retrieved
1/4- books sorted and inventoried
TBD- books distributed to kids

Results

The results of this book drive are quite simple: a book for
every single child in the Head Start/ECEAP program.

Deliverab
les

Logistics:
We need to acquire more bins, as we only have two from
last year. The cost of a new bin is $5.98 for an opaque 18
gallon tub and $6.97 for a clear 18 gallon tub. We will
need 6 new bins.
We are hoping to put the bins we receive at the following
locations:
Bellingham libraries
Non-Title 1 elementary schools
o Silver Beach
o West County
o Happy Valley
o Custer
o Fisher
Childcare facilities (if allowed)
o BCLC
o Generations
Alishas church
Hollys church
Bookstores
o Michaels, Barnes and Noble, Village Books,
other used bookstores in Bellingham
Other local businesses (?)
We will be checking the bins biweekly and removing
books to prevent the temptation of theft. The books will
be stored in the Americorps office.
Sponsorship:
We have also made this list of people to contact (though
it is not complete yet):
Bellingham Library:
o Keegan contacting
WWU Literacy Center:
o Holly contacting
Teachers of Tomorrow WCC
o Nolan contacting
CTK Church
o Holly contacting
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (James St)
o Alisha contacting
Raisykinder Publishing: 360-752-0332

 Principle of Silver Beach:

Principle of West County:
Principle of Happy Valley:
Principle of Custer:
Principle of Fisher:
BCLC
Generations
Michaels Bookstore
Barnes and Noble
Village Books
Promotion:
We will be making posters to promote the book drive (that
can be hung up around town, as well as posted in
classrooms and potentially placed in go home folders,
and posters to hang at the book drive collection site.
Afterwards:
Books will be inventoried and will remain stored in the
Americorps office at 1111 Cornwall until they can be
distributed. The distribution of the books collected from
the book drive will mostly likely be at a literacy night
event. If we have extras, we will decide what to do with
them at a later date.
Constrain
ts

Constraints for this project have been sorted by things we

can control and things we cannot control.
Can control:
o We will not be fundraising monetarily, only
via books.
Cant control:
o Community interest and generosity its
entirely possible that people will not be
interested in donating
o Community awareness its a busy season
and people might not notice our bins and we
might not get as many donations
o Uncooperative stores, authors, etc.
Can try to control:
o Theft we will try to mitigate it by placing the
bins in locations that can be seen by
employees and locations that are locked up at
night. We have also discussed placing locks
on the tubs, if we are having a serious
problem with theft.

Approval