Although April is National Poetry Month, "due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to change our plans for how best to celebrate," Next Page Books, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noted in a Facebook post. "So, beginning tomorrow and continuing every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday through April, we will post a different poem in our storefront window for folks to read while out for their daily dose of fresh air. We ask for your cooperation with observing appropriate social distancing so, please, no crowding in front of the store. Oh! And feel free to share a favorite poem with us, too!"
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Kona Stories Book Store, Kailua Kona, Hawaii, has launched an initiative called the Educational Support Drive. Co-owner Brenda McConnell noted that the genesis for the program came a little more than two weeks ago. When the mandate to close all non-essential businesses and shelter in place was about to go into effect, a couple donated $500 to the store to get educational materials into the hands of at-risk students who are now out of school for the foreseeable future.
"This inspired us to start a program which we are calling our Educational Support Drive," McConnell said. "Through our weekly newsletter, social media and a nice front page story in our local newspaper we have raised over $4,000 in a little over a week for school materials. I've reached out to our local transitional living housing complexes and non-profits we have worked with before for Christmas toy drives to ask for their help in disturbing these materials to the most at risk students.
"These students are without books, teacher instruction and mostly without internet. I delivered my first boxes this week with overwhelming responses of gratitude. We are working directly with Workman and Scholastic, along with Bess Press, a local press which provides us early readers with local content.... [W]e have asked local radio to come do a story to keep the momentum going."
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Newtonville Books, Newton, Mass., worked with the Newton Public Schools "to provide 240 gift bags for K-5 kids in the district who needed them--each gift bag included a wipe board, dry erase markers, a book and activity book, a Blackwing pencil, and some sort of other surprise--Eco-Kids USA play dough, card games from Gamewright, or some other cool thing we had in stock. These are strange days but it brought me such joy to put together these little packages. I hope the kids enjoy them!"
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"It feels like a lifetime ago when I last wrote and, as expected, we continue to face a shifting landscape," Roxanne Coady, owner of RJ Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn., wrote in her latest e-newsletter. "But here is something that is the same--your remarkable support and generosity that has endured for all 30 years of RJ Julia's existence. In response to our appeal for your help last week, we raised $35,000 for kids in New Haven. You cannot imagine our gratitude--what an amazing community!"
The bookstore is working with a team from New Haven public schools who are coordinating meal pick-up. "They are now feeding over 3,000 families!" Coady noted. "Publisher Penguin Random House will help us drop-ship orders by grade groups, which will make it easy for volunteers to coordinate the distribution. We are finalizing logistics and hope to have the first books distributed by the end of April. If we can raise enough money, we would like to distribute books for ten weeks--about 30,000 books." In addition, Senator Chris Murphy was at a Bridgeport Public School food distribution site last week and had seen Coady's previous letter. He sent an e-mail to his supporters, which raised $100,000 in one day for Books for Kids, to benefit families in Bridgeport.