Milk + Bookies is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States. The organization's stated mission is two-fold: 1) providing opportunities for children to experience giving back to their community and 2) literacy promotion in underserved areas of the population. While book donations are an integral element of the Milk + Bookies' mission, another cornerstone of their program is Service Learning: instilling the seed of giving into each child participant, sparking feelings of importance, self-confidence and the desire to give and give again.
Contents
History
Milk + Bookies was founded in 2004 by Meredith Alexander, a Los Angeles, California-based mother of two. In 2009, Heidi Lindelof and Laura Zimmerman, also Los Angeles-based moms, joined Meredith on the Milk + Bookies Board of Directors. That same year, Milk + Bookies was designated a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
Programs
Milk + Bookies' programs include:
M+B Class Project
Through Milk + Bookies, kids of all ages host events in their local school or hometown bookstore and are eligible to earn community service hours. The M+B Class Project requires the hosts to invite families with young children to spend the day celebrating books and experience giving. Children ages 3 and up are asked to choose, purchase and inscribe a book to be donated to a local child of a similar age who has little or no access to books. The events often include music, story-inspired arts & crafts and milk & cookies. Milk + Bookies provides students with a checklist [2] on the necessary steps for hosting a Milk + Bookies Class Project event. The student hosts are then charged with finding a recipient group for delivery of the book donations. In the past, Milk + Bookies has recommended the following organizations as recipients of donations: Operation School Bell [3], Head Start or Boys and Girls Clubs of America [4].
M+B Birthday Party
The Milk + Bookies Birthday Party was conceived as a way to provide parents with an alternative for hosting a birthday party for their child, with the emphasis veering away from excessive gifts. Guests are asked to bring a new or gently used children's book in lieu of a gift for the birthday child. Milk + Bookies provides hosts with a “Bookies Box” [5] which contains the necessary materials for hosting: bookplates, balloons, “I Donated” stickers, bookmarks and Milk + Bookies literature to facilitate parent discussions with young children regarding the importance of helping others. The guests are given the option of inscribing bookplates to adhere to their donation and subsequently receiving an "I Donated" sticker to wear. The birthday child and family choose a recipient group, then deliver the books to the recipients so that the birthday child can experience the joy of giving personally.
Leaders + Readers
Leaders+Readers is a special Milk+Bookies program designed to encourage student volunteers in the Los Angeles community, organizing book drives to benefit another Los Angeles based “sister” school. The goal of every Leaders+Readers Book Drive is to flood underserved Los Angeles schools with books to support learning and academic excellence AND allow students to gain experience with leadership and community service. [6]
Recent activities
On April 19, 2015 Milk + Bookies hosted their 6th Annual Story Time Celebration at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles [7]. There was cookies, ice cream, fun games and crafts, and your favorite celebrities reading your favorite stories. Celebrity readers included J.J. Abrams, Tom Felton, Henry Winkler, Julie Bowen, Jaya Mays, and Dan Bucatinsky. Children were also able to donate over 3,000 books via Operation School Bell to kids who previously had never owned a storybook. [8].
Notable people involved
Milk + Bookies receives a great deal of assistance and involvement from celebrities as well as organizations and individuals based both locally in Los Angeles and nationwide.