Growing up in a home with books can have a significant impact on lifelong learning skills, early literacy development, and one’s success as an adult. In Fall 2018, the William H. Hannon Library partnered with Children’s Institute, Inc. for a fourth year to collect new and gently used books for Los Angeles children. Thanks to the robust support from our campus partners, as well as local community support, we collected 1,769 books over four weeks. This year’s collection was well above our goal of 1,000 and beat our previous record of 1,011 books!
We are especially grateful to our colleagues: the LMU Children’s Center, Gryphon Circle, Susie McDaniel, Nancy Donovan and her colleagues from the College of Business Administration, and LMU alum and former library student assistant Sarah. We also had generous support from Playa Vista Elementary School families (thank you, Principal Johnson!), the Pilgrim School (esp. Sheryl E. Cohen and Carole Koneff), and library staff, friends and neighbors.
More than 20 library staff volunteers sorted, boxed, and labeled all 1700+ books, which shipped out the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in 29 boxes for the Children’s Institute, Inc.’s annual holiday giveaway event. Additional William H. Hannon Library staff participated in the book giveaway at CII. We had a great time placing the magic of books into the hands of young readers. “I loved seeing children happy and excited to receive books,” one staff member noted.
Thank you to everyone who participated and supported us this year!