Hello Everyone!
We hope everybody has been having a great holiday season! We’ve certainly been busy! As 2009 wraps up, BookGrams4Grandma has been preparing for its Holiday 2009 drop off to Reader to Reader and we are proud to announce that we have a total of 302 books being shipped! This brings our total book count to 1,148, which means we’ve reached our goal of 1,000 books! In the spirit of the holidays, it’s not what you receive, but what you give and we’d like to thank everyone who has donated books and helped support us these past four years.
As we begin a new year, we’d like to continue our efforts even though we’ve reached our goal! So, if you or anyone you know has extra books, please send them our way!
Happy New Year!
Emily and Harrison
Area 'super fan' meets J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter super fan and Upper Dublin High School junior Emily Winters won a trip and a chance to meet author J.K. Rowling in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Winters, of Fort Washington, was one of five winners from the United States of an essay contest that took her to Edinburgh for two days to attend Rowling's book release tea party for her new book titled, "Tales of Beetle the Bard" in early December.
Winters entered the essay contest in October that required entrants to describe how they've helped others, and found out she was a winner in November. Winters said she regularly attends midnight releases of Rowling's books at bookstores in costume and sees each Harry Potter movie on the day it comes out.
Winters said when she first started reading the Harry Potter series in fourth grade she fell in love with reading because of Rowling's characters and story plots.
"Before I knew it I became a super fan," Winters said.
Winters said Rowling was inspiring as she read from her new book and talked about her charity work with the Children's High Level Group, a child welfare organization Rowling started in 2005.
"It had to be about the coolest experience ever. It's been one of my dreams to meet J.K. Rowling. When I won it was so rewarding because I love to help others, and I was happy I got to meet her on the premise of doing something for others that I love. After I met her she inspired me to help others even more by continuing with my project," Winters said.
For the essay contest, Winters wrote about a service project she began with her brother, Harrison Winters. Emily and Harrison have donated 600 books through the book donation project they began for their grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Emily and Harrison, both juniors at Upper Dublin High School, titled their project "Book Grams 4 Grandma" and donated their grandmother's hard cover fiction books and some of their own to the cause. The two traded in their grandmother's hardcover fiction books, ranging from authors like Danielle S teel to titles like "The DaVinci Code" at The Harvest Book Company in Fort Washington. The two also placed stickers inside the books describing their grandmother and her passion for reading. The message requests readers to share where they are from, their favorite book, and what they enjoy most about reading in an e-mailed response to their address at bookgrams4grandma@comcast.net. Emily and Harrison said they plan to share all the responses with their grandmother.
After sending out the majority of the children's books to an organization in Amherst, Mass., called Reader to Reader, which donates books to school libraries in poor communities across the United States, they donated the remaining adult books to The Book Corner, a used bookstore in Philadelphia. Winters said hearing Rowling talk about her charity work inspired her to create a Web site for Book Grams 4 Grandma.
Winters, of Fort Washington, was one of five winners from the United States of an essay contest that took her to Edinburgh for two days to attend Rowling's book release tea party for her new book titled, "Tales of Beetle the Bard" in early December.
Winters entered the essay contest in October that required entrants to describe how they've helped others, and found out she was a winner in November. Winters said she regularly attends midnight releases of Rowling's books at bookstores in costume and sees each Harry Potter movie on the day it comes out.
Winters said when she first started reading the Harry Potter series in fourth grade she fell in love with reading because of Rowling's characters and story plots.
"Before I knew it I became a super fan," Winters said.
Winters said Rowling was inspiring as she read from her new book and talked about her charity work with the Children's High Level Group, a child welfare organization Rowling started in 2005.
"It had to be about the coolest experience ever. It's been one of my dreams to meet J.K. Rowling. When I won it was so rewarding because I love to help others, and I was happy I got to meet her on the premise of doing something for others that I love. After I met her she inspired me to help others even more by continuing with my project," Winters said.
For the essay contest, Winters wrote about a service project she began with her brother, Harrison Winters. Emily and Harrison have donated 600 books through the book donation project they began for their grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Emily and Harrison, both juniors at Upper Dublin High School, titled their project "Book Grams 4 Grandma" and donated their grandmother's hard cover fiction books and some of their own to the cause. The two traded in their grandmother's hardcover fiction books, ranging from authors like Danielle S teel to titles like "The DaVinci Code" at The Harvest Book Company in Fort Washington. The two also placed stickers inside the books describing their grandmother and her passion for reading. The message requests readers to share where they are from, their favorite book, and what they enjoy most about reading in an e-mailed response to their address at bookgrams4grandma@comcast.net. Emily and Harrison said they plan to share all the responses with their grandmother.
After sending out the majority of the children's books to an organization in Amherst, Mass., called Reader to Reader, which donates books to school libraries in poor communities across the United States, they donated the remaining adult books to The Book Corner, a used bookstore in Philadelphia. Winters said hearing Rowling talk about her charity work inspired her to create a Web site for Book Grams 4 Grandma.
The Essay:
“She cannot read anymore”. When my dad first uttered those words, I could not believe it. My grandma, the one who helped cultivate my love for reading and Harry Potter, could not read? But, I knew it was because of her Alzheimer’s disease. I realized I had to do something to reciprocate what she had done for me and simultaneously help others as she had taught me to do.
With my brother, we created BookGrams4Grandma, an Alzheimer’s awareness project that donates gently used children’s books to Reader to Reader, an organization in Massachusetts who then delivers the books to underprivileged libraries in the United States. Since our first donation two years ago, we have contributed over 600 books suitable for ages two through twelve. Inside each book, we place a sticker describing BookGrams4Grandma and a message in honor of our grandma wishing each reader a pleasant experience as they dive into the text.
Since BookGrams4Grandma started, my grandma is no longer able to remember my name, let alone the project. However, I know her passion for reading will live on in the kids who enjoy the books that have been and will be donated through BookGrams4Grandma.
With my brother, we created BookGrams4Grandma, an Alzheimer’s awareness project that donates gently used children’s books to Reader to Reader, an organization in Massachusetts who then delivers the books to underprivileged libraries in the United States. Since our first donation two years ago, we have contributed over 600 books suitable for ages two through twelve. Inside each book, we place a sticker describing BookGrams4Grandma and a message in honor of our grandma wishing each reader a pleasant experience as they dive into the text.
Since BookGrams4Grandma started, my grandma is no longer able to remember my name, let alone the project. However, I know her passion for reading will live on in the kids who enjoy the books that have been and will be donated through BookGrams4Grandma.
