In mid-October, the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank held a ribbon-cutting that opened a new home on Parkway Road. Let’s see how they’ve settled into their new location.
A bit of back story
In February 2025, Kids’ Book Bank purchased the building on West Parkway in Cleveland’s Jefferson-Puritas area. The move expanded the operation from 5,500 square feet, in a building shared with other tenants, to 24,000 square feet, with a building of their own. The new quarters are handicap-accessible, including a restroom facility with a Universal Changing Table.
The move to the expansive quarters made more possible to take deliveries of large donations. Executive Director Natalie Friedl said, “We are very fortunate to have a very large donation of brand new books. Back in January, we were contacted by the Junior Library Guild of Columbus and they were ready to pulp 100,000 children’s books and asked if we could take them. If we had the space already, we could. So we reached out to our friends at Amazon who went down to Columbus in their trucks, picked up and stored the books until we secured the space and then they brought the books to us. So we were able to save and bring to Cleveland [these] beautiful diverse books.”
How it works
The Book Bank relies on donations of books from many sources, such as their 22 outdoor collection bins where anyone can place children’s books. These donations from the community helps to fulfill their mission.
“The mission of the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank is to foster literacy and a love of reading by distributing free books to children through collaboration with community partners,” it notes on the organization website.
Funding
While book donations are the backbone of the ongoing work of the Kids’ Book Bank, how is it funded?
As a nonprofit organization all of its revenue is generated through fundraising. The organization’s first-ever capital campaign raised $2 million for the purchase and renovation of its new home on Parkway Road.
Ongoing donations are needed to sustain the operation. Some ways to donate are:
- Golden Book Society are lead donors that support the Kids’ Book Bank with a total gift of $1,000 or more per calendar year.
- Bookend Friends are recurring donors that support the Kids’ Book Bank with a monthly gift of any size.
- Memorial and honorary gifts.
- Tax-advantaged giving.
Volunteer Opportunities
Since 2016, more than 13,000 volunteers have sorted and packed 50,000 books a month for distribution to agencies, schools, recreaction centers, and any organization that works with children. These groups are referred to as community partners who request and distribute the donations of books to children in their organizations. Rows and rows of boxes and bins are filled with books waiting to go through the three-step review to ensure a perfect read for its new owner.
Fran and Kathy, two volunteers, were working in the De-Library station when I visited. Their job was to take the plastic off books that come from libraries so the books can continue through the process of distribution. As an almost two-year volunteer with Kids’ Book Bank, Fran said, “This organization is fantastic. They are easy to work with, friendly, informative, they help you whenever you need help.”
Groups like College Club West also come to help. One representative of the Club said, “College Club West is a group whose focus is serving the community. We visit nursing homes, food banks, [and] come here which is really up our alley since many of our members are teachers. We’ve been coming to the Book Bank for 5-6 years and we come three or four times a year.”
On-site volunteering can be done by:
- Individuals ages 13 and older (people 13-15 need to be accompanied by an adult) to sort, sticker and box books during scheduled shifts. Families can work together during a shift.
- Volunteers aged 21and older can sign up for hosted BYOB after-hours shifts.
- Group volunteering (groups of 5 or more people).
- Last-minute volunteers are placed on a list to fill gaps in staffing.
Next years is the Kids’ Book Bank’s 10th Anniversary. As Friedl summed up, “We have good news – great snacks – good people – and books!
For more information: https://www.kidsbookbank.org/
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