Even when school is out MSB is still working hard getting books into the hands of children!
This year we learned that you can put around 3000 books in minivan. Well, we have been so fortunate and have received a $2500 donation from a very kind human, who wishes to remain anonymous, you know who you are and we are beyond grateful for your generosity! Thanks to you, we were able to purchase a new to us trailer! We can now move over 5000 books at time!
BOOK DRIVES
Thank you to Best Homes Title Agency for hosting a book drive at ALL THREE of your locations here in Metro Detroit. They also gave us a monetary donation to support the purchase of bags for our Free Book Fairs!
We are serving close to 5000 students this fall with our programming and we need more books!!! You can help!!!
1- Drop off gently used books to our Farmington location during office hours 28580 Orchard Lake Road Suite 104 Farmington Hills, MI 48344
2- Ask a business or school to host a Book Drive. This is where the community donates used books. No new books need to be purchased. It’s a great opportunity for kids to practice leadership skills running the drive and give back to the community. Book Drive SignUp Genius.
We wouldn’t be able to share the love of reading with so many if it wasn’t for donations from schools and families alike!
BOOKS FROM COMMUNITY PARTNERS
We are so grateful to be part of literacy collaborations that provide us with free books.
We received 500 brand new books from the 313Reads! Literacy Coalition- Books in the D program! The project was able to distribute 94,000 new books into the hands and hearts of readers in Detroit and SE Michigan! There were 350+ volunteers to help unload, sort and distribute the books!
We are proud members of the Diverse Books Coalition. This group meets quarterly to brainstorm ways we can get our hands on MORE books that represent the communities we are serving. In August, MSB was given over 300 new books from this organization.
LIBRARY PARTNERS
We are so appreciative of Wixom library for their summer donation of books. They gave us several YA titles that will go over so well with the teens we serve! While having access to age-appropriate books is vital for increasing literacy in Pre-K to 5th grade, it is important to us to provide books to our teen readers too, so they can experience the joy of reading! Our thanks to Wixom Library for helping make this happen!
SCHOOL DISTRIBUTION
Fall dates are full for school free book fairs. We are now booking Winter and Spring. We serve schools in low income communities, providing students with the chance to pick out free books for their home library. If you are interested in securing a date, please reach out to Maria at hello@makingspiritsbright.org
At our free book fairs, we asked the kids a few questions about reading. When asked why they think reading is important, one student replied that reading “helps strengthen the mind”. Another responded, “the more you read, the more you mature…people need books to mature and make them a better person in life.” We’re so grateful to be able to engage with children and share the joy of reading at our free books fairs!
COMMUNITY DISTRIBUTION
Monthly Family Literacy Nights- We were so excited to debut our MSB at Home Library Program at Brilliant Detroit‘s Dexter-Linwood Hub. This included a story time where we shared tips with the parents to engage their kids in reading. We also helped the children paint and decorate their own mini-libraries, which they were able to put 15 self-selected books in to start their at home library. This month we visited the Littlefield location.
We had another successful event distributing books with Detroit PAL! Detroit PAL is a collaboration between the Detroit Police Department and community volunteers, helping youth find their greatness through athletic, academic, and leadership development programs.
VOLUNTEERS
We have collaborated with Blue Cross, Blue Shields’s volunteer program and they are sending wonderful volunteers our way. We are now officially connected with Rocket Community as well!
We are always in need of volunteers, specifically to pick up books from book drives and to deliver books to our community partners. If you or someone you know might be interested in this, please let us know!
PURCHASE A BOOK FROM OUR WISHLIST
Each time we go to a school for a free book fair, there is a table of popular books that we have to limit children to selecting just ONE book from. Help us add popular books to our inventory by checking out our Walmart Wishlist and Amazon Wishlist!
#4 Volunteer with Us Sort Books: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4CAAAC2FA6FCC70-46973201-book Volunteer At a Family Event in Detroit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4CAAAC2FA6FCC70-48678280-inperson#/ DM me if you have worked with kids before and you would like to work a FREE BOOK FAIR this fall with us!
FUNDRAISING
Making Spirits Bright sold adult books at the Detroit Book Fest in July to fundraise for our fall programming. It was such a great opportunity for MSB, and we were happy to be a part of it! We’re so grateful for all who came!
A very special human passed away in July and the family of Seymour Mandell designated Making Spirits Bright for family and friends to donate in memory of the amazing man. We have received almost $2500! We hope to honor this great man with our work in the Metro Detroit community.
Do you have books you’ve loved and are ready to let go of? Come visit us and donate your gently used books at our headquarters: 28580 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, 48334. We collect books every Tuesday from 11am-3pm.
We can’t announce it just yet but we are THRILLED to share that our intern this summer, Isabelle Raudszus from Eastern Michigan University wrote a grant with Maria and they received notice that they were granted the funding!!! Congratulations to Isabelle on this achievement!
P.S. We are a 501(c)3 and accept monetary donations from individuals and organizations. Please consider donating here.
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