2012 Holiday Book Drive

Thanks to our stores’ hard work and dedication, the 2012 Holiday Book Drive collected more than 1.5 million books to donate to local organizations across the country – an increase of 300,000 books from the previous year.  Here’s how some of our top stores excelled at collecting books for children in need:

The entire team at our Hampton, VA, store rallied behind their Holiday Book Drive and it certainly paid off.  For the past three years, the store has partnered with First Book of Hampton Roads, an organization that provides books to children from low income families.  This year, the store raised more books than ever before. 

Store Manager Lynda Magee went above and beyond to drive donations and offer employee incentives to keep them motivated.  Lynda got both the Café and Music teams involved by setting up book drive space in those sections.  Customers waiting in line could read about First Book of Hampton Roads and choose a book they would like to donate.  Lynda also established a rewards program for booksellers with prizes for each donation goal reached.  First Book of Hampton Roads greatly appreciated the store’s hard work.

Pictured above: Holiday Book Drive display in the Hampton, VA, Café.

Students and parents of the New Brunswick Public Schools were ecstatic to learn that our North Brunswick, NJ, store would have their Holiday Book Drive feature their school district.  The store was proud to support the local community in an effort to better the surrounding area.  Books donated by generous shoppers directly benefited the students and the schools.  Parents were also encouraged to start home libraries for their children to promote reading in the home.

Pictured above: Table of books donated to the New Brunswick Public School students.

Bookseller Richard Rock led the Holiday Book Drive efforts at our Alpharetta, GA, store.  This Barnes & Noble veteran of more than 15 years made it the store’s mission to partner with the local hospital’s pediatric wing.  Having been a volunteer there for the past five years, Richard decided he wanted to give more than his time to the children and teenagers and ensure that anyone admitted to the wing during the coming year would have a book waiting for them upon arrival.  Richard’s infectious enthusiasm for the cause turned this year’s book drive into the most successful to date.

Richard Rock posing with Santa in the local hospital’s pediatric wing.

The Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket, RI, wanted to spread some holiday cheer to members of their Pre-Teen Program by giving them the gift of reading.  In doing so, the leaders of the Pre-Teen Program teamed up with our Warwick, RI, store for the annual Holiday Book Drive.

"The pre-teens were excited to receive nice, new books that would be their own,” says CRM Katie Rendine.  “It was a pleasure seeing how happy they were to receive a gift from an organization that believes in their future.”  

Pictured above: The Boys & Girls Club ecstatically holding up their books outside of Barnes & Noble in Pawtucket, RI.

Our Oklahoma City, OK, store teamed up with the Christmas Connection to create a shopping experience for customers in need. 

Having collected almost 2,000 books himself, Bookseller Matt Mashore was a driving force in getting this impressive number of donations.  Matt passionately hand-sold his favorite box sets for shoppers to donate to this respected organization.  Within a few weeks, Matt sold 13 box sets for donation, including the Harry Potter series, Rick Riordan titles, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Pictured right: Bookseller Matt Mashore holding up The Chronicles of Narnia box set in our Oklahoma City, OK, store.