BOOKS FOR ALL. This holiday season, Give a Kid a Book – and celebrate the local literacy program's 30th year. (Photo via Unsplash)

Amid the usual holiday hubbub – last-minute gift shopping, grocery lists galore, crammed schedules visiting family and friends – there are programs that ramp up to encourage people to give back to their community and those in need. One of those is celebrating its 30th year this holiday season: The Friends of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library’s Annual Give a Kid a Book program.

Over the past three decades the local program has put an esteemed 80,000 new books into the hands of Chippewa Valley kids who may not otherwise have access to them. This year, Give a Kid a Book is accepting donations through Saturday, Dec. 16m to keep growing that number.

“Our goal is to instill the joy of reading into our local kids,” Nancy Sowls, chairperson of the program, said in a recent media release. “We believe this can happen through the wonderful stories that books provide.”

The 2024 Give a Kid a Book program is kicking off on Friday, Nov. 1, with a collaboration between the Friends of the Library and Eau Claire’s Lakeshore Elementary School. At a morning school assembly that day, each student will be given a brand new children’s book.

Royal Credit Union and Books-A-Million are crucial community partners that continue to support the longtime literacy program, with the latter running a holiday book drive right now through Friday, Dec. 8t. Chippewa Valley residents are also part of the program’s backbone: Annually, the program asks locals to donate new, unwrapped children’s books as well as monetary donations.

This year, new books can be dropped off at the Friends of the Library Bookstore (Level 0 of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library) from Nov. 1-16, or the Seasonal Bear display in the library from Dec. 2-16. Monetary donations can be made online or sent to the Friends of the Library (GAKAB 400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire).

This year’s book suggestions include board books for babies; easy picture books for ages 2-5; fiction and nonfiction books for ages 6-18; and books written in Spanish and Hmong.

Give a Kid a Book hopes community members will celebrate its 30th year with them, and for the next 30 to come. For more information, contact Stay Yearous at stacyy@eauclaire.lib.wi.us.

Learn more about the Give a Kid a Book program online • The Friends of the Library Bookstore is located on Level 0 of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library (400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire)