March Birthday Service Project: Bring The Giving Tree to Oaklawn Language Academy

March Service Project announcement!!!!!! Our project just went live on StartSomeGood! Check it out, share with your friends and contribute if you can so I can start some good. We only receive funds if we meet our goal. 

http://www.startsomegood.com/venture/ebonis_birthday_bookapalooza_4_oaklawn/campaigns/show/bring_the_giving_tree_to_oaklawn_language_academy

December Service Project: Holiday Cheer 4 Children

For our December service project we have chosen to help the guests of The Relatives. This will be our third project this year that has benefitted The Relatives.  The Relatives hosts 9 children/young adults that are homeless or have been removed from their family homes.  We are doing handmade cards and gift cards for each of the 9 guests that will be with them on Christmas Day.  We are hoping that others will join us in providing items for each child.  Since some of these children are in transition, we are not wanting to give bulky items (such as stuffed animals) but things that are portable, fun, educational, motivating, etc.  Some examples of items that would be great are playing cards, activity books, Redbox gift cards, bus passes, gift cards to restaurants (the facility is on East Boulevard so restaurants in that area would be more convenient), inspirational books, etc. We don’t know the breakdown of boys vs. girls, so think of things that are gender neutral. We will be collecting items between now and Tuesday, December 23, 2014. If you would like to donate items, send us an email and we can coordinate meeting you.

Thanks in advance for thinking of those children that aren’t able to be home for the holidays.

Eboni & Tyler

Tyler's Birthday Service Project: Bounce 4 Books

Tyler wanted to do an activity that involved physical activity in a way that helps people, specifically other children. Well April 13-19 is National Library Week, and we have been frequenting the library recently checking out books, so we decided to do an activity that benefitted children through the library. 

Join us at BounceU Charlotte on Wednesday, April 16 from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm. Admission is $10 per child (adults are free) and all proceeds will go to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation's Summer Reading Program. If you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation to the library you can do so online, https://give.cmlibrary.org/pages/securegiving. You can designate your donation directly to the Summer Reading Program by selecting 'Other'. Also if you would put In Honor of Tyler Lewis so the library knows you are donating because of Tyler's Birthday Service Project that would be greatly appreciated. ***This is NOT a birthday party so please do not bring gifts!***

Why did we choose the library?
During the summer months, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library sees an increase in books being checked out thanks to the popular Summer Reading Program.To meet the demand, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation is hoping to be able to purchase an additional 10,000 books for their Summer Reading Program.

In 2013, the 15,591 school age children and teens who participated in Summer Reading read more than 213,448 hours. Plus, 2,771 pre-K children signed up for Wee Read, a program dedicated to building reading skills with little ones who aren’t quite readers yet.

Summer is of particular interest because children who read during the summer months can avoid losing up to half of what they learned in the previous school year compared to students who do not read during June, July, and August.

For the Library, it is important that children are not only reading, but reading books they truly love. However, they continue to find some books spike in popularity so quickly that they cannot keep them on the shelves. For instance, the young adult book Divergent has 277 people on the waitlist. Students could wait all summer to check out this book.

Join us in helping the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library by giving today to the 10,000 Book Challenge.

We hope to see you Wednesday!

Giveaway: Hungry for Home & What Do Animals Do on the Weekend?

The introduction snippet I posted last week was for the book, Hungry For Home, which believe it or not is a cookbook! Hungry For Home showcases the best of traditional Southern cooking and storytelling, along with recipes brought here from around the world. Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole, Carolina Crab and Mushroom Bisque, Crackling Corn Bread (yes it contains cracklings), Sauteed Collard Greens Brazilian Style and these are just a few of the recipes found in this book.

Have you ever wondered what animals do for fun? During the week they're busy with work and school, but look what they do when the weekend comes.  What Do Animals Do on the Weekend? takes readers on a lively adventure through the alphabet.  Kids and adults can discover together that leopards eat their dinners in trees, Eskimos invented kayaks to hunt whales, and crocodiles can grow to be 20 feet long.

Thanks to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library I have a copy of each book to be given away. Good luck!

Giveaway Teaser!

This is going to be very interesting!  Based on the above snippet of the book introduction, what do you think this book is about?  What is the genre?  This is one of the books that was given to me by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library to give away and I must say that I'm a little sad that I only received one of these because I would love to have one for myself (guess I'll be making a purchase soon).  So comment away, I'm looking forward to seeing the responses.