Student-to-student…How to Run a Successful Book Drive

By: Leena Mirchandani

STEP 1- Talk to leadership 
You can talk to your principal, teacher, or adviser. I did my book drive at camp so I talked to my camp director. When I presented the idea to him through email, he was thrilled. We then met in person to collaborate on ideas. We also set a goal of collecting 500 books.

Step 2 – Get your crew on board 
To run a successful book drive, you need people to donate books. I spoke to over 300 campers, counselors, and staff to ask them to donate books. Stage fright – don’t worry. You don’t need to speak on stage to get your message out. Even if you are shy, you can make fliers, posters or post it on social media to spread the word.

Step 3 – Collect 
A few days after the announcement, the books just started coming in. Boxes upon boxes started to pile up in the camp office. After only two weeks of collecting, there were hundreds and hundreds of books.

Step 4 – Inspire 
Doing a book drive is a great way for kids to help kids. In camp one day, I was surprised when I was called out of an activity to the camp stage. There were two younger campers who wanted to meet me and talk about the book drive. They even asked to take a picture with me.

Step 6 – Transport 
It took many car rides to transport the books from camp to home and then to Bridge of Books for donation. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Step 7- Organize and count
After unloading all of the books into the garage, I counted and organized all the books. I have worked with Bridge of Books before, so I knew which books were appropriate for their collections and which needed to be sorted out. In the end we collected a grand total of almost 2,000 books! This exceeded our goal of 500 books!

Step 8 – Observe Your Results 
One day, while looking at the Bridge of Book’s Instagram account, I saw a picture of a girl holding a book that I knew came from my book drive because of its unique title. This was poignant because I saw this book was in good hands. A book that you loved and outgrew could find a new owner who wants to read it.

Step 9 – Repeat 
This book drive was a huge success, and I can’t wait to see what the next one brings.

Conclusion. 
Whether your thing is athletics, music, or academics, everyone can be kind. In camp, every camper was into their own thing, but everyone came together to express their kindness through bringing in books. At camp our motto is “‘It’s cool to be kind”’ and this is how I showed my kindness. If you are a reader and love books, you should try something like this in your community.

Eat, Collect, Sleep, Repeat
Have fun!