Write On's Holiday Book Drive is Underway!

Toys are broken and clothes are outgrown ... 
but the impact of books lasts a lifetime.

“Write On! For Literacy” is holding its Ninth Annual Holiday Book Drive to benefit underprivileged children! Last year we collected nearly 1,000 books (bringing our grand total to more than 11,000 books!) that were distributed to various schools and charities including the Boys & Girls Club, Casa Pacifica, and Project Understanding. Please do your part to help children have a better holiday season. Help beat illiteracy and give the gift that lasts forever: the gift of reading!

Want to get involved?

• Mail book donations to the Write On! chapter headquarters: 400 Roosevelt Court, Ventura, CA, 93003

• You can also mail monetary donations that will be used to purchase books to the above address. (Checks made out to Dallas Woodburn.)

• Start a chapter in your area! Donate books to a local charity -- Boys & Girls Clubs are usually very grateful for donations -- and then e-mail me the total number of books donated which will be added to our grand-total. 

Many thanks to our recent generous contributors!

* Barry Kibrick, host of the Emmy-award-winning PBS television show "Between the Lines," annually donates 400-500 books to charity.

* Raeanne Alliapoulos donated 30 books to the Boys & Girls Club in Pomona, California.

* A. William Benitez and his company Positive Imaging, LLC, shipped out 20 copies of Lottie's Adventure, a marvelous and imaginative book for kids and middle-graders: http://lottiesadventure.com

About Write On!

“Write On! For Literacy” is a volunteer-run organization founded by author Dallas Woodburn in 2001. The goal is to encourage kids to discover confidence, happiness, a means of self-expression, and connection to others through reading and writing. The Write On! website features writing contests, book reviews, author interviews, writing tips and ideas, and ways for everyone to get involved. http://www.writeonbooks.org 

The past eight years, Write On's Holiday Book Drive has donated 11,206 books to disadvantaged children across the nation.

Great Places to Donate Books

Here at Write On! we are always looking for great places to donate books. Do you have some gently used books sitting on your bookshelves, read once and now collecting dust? Why not give them to others to enjoy?

If you do donate books in your area, e-mail me at dallaswoodburn@aol.com and I'll add you to our book donation grand total on our Book Drive webpage!

Here are some great organizations looking for books:

* Soldiers' Angels http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=books

* Got Books? http://www.gotbooks.com/donate_books.php

* Kids In Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) http://www.kidsdonations.org/index.htm

* Reader to Reader http://www.readertoreader.org/donate.html

* Pages for Children http://www.pagesforchildren.com/index.html

* International Book Bank http://www.internationalbookbank.org/donatebooks.html

2009 Holiday Book Drive a Huge Success!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you to everyone who donated books to Write On's Holiday Book Drive for showing what Christmas is really about -- the joy of giving.

This year, we donated 923 new books to charities including the Boys & Girls Club, Casa Pacifica, and schools including Haycox School in Port Hueneme, California and 93rd Street School in Los Angeles.

Special thanks to the following generous people for donating beautiful boxes of books:


* Andrea Spence Accinelli and the Write On! Canada Chapter donated 31 new books.
* Ventura's Cabrillo Middle School students donated 167 gorgeous new books.
* Jeff Becker from Ventura donated a huge box of 128 books.
* Linda Brug's class at Ventura High School donated 50 books.
* Marsha Barr and Santa Barbara High School students donated 47 great young adult books.
* Nichole Schiff from Dallas, Texas donated 50 books to her local library.
* The Baxter Family in Laguna Niguel, California donated two boxes of beautiful books!
* Nanci Cone from Ventura, California donated childrens books in excellent condition.

Vote for Write On! to get a $1,000 grant for literacy!

Write On! For Literacy is one of thirty teams in the running for fifteen $1,000 prizes offered by Ralph Lauren through the Ashoka Youth Venture Program.

We need your help!

All you have to do is click on the link below, scroll down the list, and vote for Write On!

http://www.rugby.com/newsroom/blog_post.aspx?id=ace1f4b2-2cc6-44e3-b109-03cc94ea993e&cat=6d3287ed-c1e1-4d01-8717-544c4efbb8b9

If we are selected, the prize money will be used to purchase brand-new books to give to underprivileged kids through our annual Holiday Book Drive.

Thanks for your help! Tell all your friends! Voting ends JUNE 30th.

http://www.rugby.com/newsroom/blog_post.aspx?id=ace1f4b2-2cc6-44e3-b109-03cc94ea993e&cat=6d3287ed-c1e1-4d01-8717-544c4efbb8b9