2011 Holiday Book Drive

Throughout the 2011 holiday season, our stores collected nearly 1.2 million books to donate to local organizations nationwide.

“It was a tremendous year for us. We saw a sizeable increase over last year,” says Sarah DiFrancesco, director of community relations. “Schools, libraries and non-profits are enjoying the gift of more than one million new books for children across the country, thanks to our generous customers and dedicated booksellers who worked so hard to make this an outstanding Holiday Book Drive.”

Here’s how some of our top stores excelled at collecting books for children in need:

Staff at our Austin, TX, store collected books for the Women’s Storybook Project during November and the Dell’s Children’s Hospital in December. At the end of the book drive, customers donated 5,000 books for the two organizations.

CRM Charley Carroll believes their success came from keeping the conversation going all season long. Cashiers employed a cheerful new trick to do just that. “We placed a little bell at each register,” explains Charley. “Every time a customer donated a book, the cashier rang the bell. It piqued the interest of customers waiting in line, so that was our cue to tell them about the book drive.”

Pictured above: Head Cashiers Corinna Van Fossen and Andrew Harrison ring their Holiday Book Drive bells.

In our Pittsburgh, PA, store, Community Relations Manager Selina Blinn says staff and customers benefitted from the hands-on participation from their recipient, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit Head Start Program. Children from the program created bookmarks for customers who donated books, while other program participants “adopted” bookstore employees by sending them encouraging handwritten notes throughout the book drive.

“The bookmarks displayed at the registers were irrestistably cute and caught everyone’s attention,” says Selina. “Also, the notes from the children kept our booksellers motivated, especially in the home stretch.”

Community Relations Manager Abby Hannie from our Baton Rouge, LA, store believes having a cooperative relationship with a deserving charity was integral to this year’s Holiday Book Drive success. “We chose to work with the United Way because we knew they would spread the word throughout their organization,” says Abby. “They also sent representatives to speak with our staff during our holiday meeting so our booksellers would know exactly how their efforts impacted less fortunate children in our community. Naturally, this information was translated to the customer during every transaction.”

Abby also found that focusing on a particular type of book was helpful. “We noticed the Little Golden Books to be popular this year. Everyone has their favorite and they’re an inexpensive but important gesture.”

Pictured, from left to right:  Store Manager Jill Bareford, Assistant Store Manager Courtney LeBlanc, Abby Hannie, Children’s Lead Kitty Murphy, Merchandise Manager Jarrett Roddy, and Jeff LeJuene, bookseller.

For additional information, view our press release.