Posts Tagged 'donations'

RSVP: Social Ways to Support Our Work

Published January 12, 2015 Donations , fundraising Closed
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This time for once we’re not talking about Facebook or Twitter…

In November a friend of ours in Texas told us she was planning a fundraiser in her home. We heard back from her recently:

I hosted a small Christmas party at my house where I invited all my girlfriends (many from a book club I belong to). I asked everyone to bring a used book, which we laid out on a large table and swapped among ourselves. I had a separate table displaying the letters from the inmates you sent me as well as a donation box. (I’d read on your site that it was better to give cash than to incur the cost of shipping books multiple times.) That way people could donate if they felt inclined and everyone went away with a “new” book.  I gave some door prizes as well. Everyone really liked the idea. I’m happy to contribute to your organization. My sister is incarcerated and I know how much books and reading has meant to her there.

The following day I posted a thank you on my Facebook page with a link to your Amazon wish list so that those who didn’t donate or couldn’t come to the party would have a chance to contribute after the fact.

Continue reading ‘RSVP: Social Ways to Support Our Work’

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Be a Part of #GivingTuesday

Published December 2, 2014 fundraising Closed
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Black Friday has come and gone.
Cyber Monday too.
But the spirit of Thanksgiving continues.

Today is the third annual #GivingTuesday, a national day of generosity to non-profit organizations. We know there are many worthy causes you could support, but since you’re reading this, chances are you share our sense of the importance of our mission.

For more than 12 years, we’ve been meeting weekly to read letters and fulfill requests from women behind bars across the country. We do our best to choose just the right books from the thousands of paperbacks donated year round by readers in Chicago and beyond, in able to offer the women we serve the  education, entertainment and self-empowerment that reading provides.

In 2013, we mailed 2,274 packages of books—nearly 7,000 books in all—and it looks likely that we’ll surpass that for 2014. We couldn’t do any of it without people like you who care about this as much as we do.

We welcome all gifts, but here are some specific ways your donation can help:

  • $15 provides a week’s worth of packing tape
  • $35 pays Media Mail postage for ten book packages (three books each to ten women)
  • $70 buys First Class postage for one blank journal each to 20 women
  • $125 covers our rent for one month (we’ve recently expanded, which will help us do more, more efficiently)
  • $200 is a typical week’s worth of postage (multiply that by 52 and you get a good idea of our need throughout the year)

Please help if you can on #GivingTuesday. Paypal is handy at the top right of this page. Or send a check or money order to:

Chicago Books to Women in Prison
c/o RFUMC
4511 N. Hermitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ChicagoBWP so you can share in the energy of #GivingTuesday. And help us get the word out to your friends and followers!

Wanted: Brown Paper Bags

Published August 4, 2014 Uncategorized Closed
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PackedBooks

Every week we pack and ship more than 60 packages of books. To keep our costs down, we recycle brown paper bags—and now we’ve run out of bags.

So we’ll be happy to take that pile of bags off your hands. Just drop them off any Sunday afternoon, 2–5pm at 4511 N. Hermitage Ave. (Sunnyside and Hermitage). We’re only two blocks from the Montrose Brown Line stop and there is plenty of free street parking. Look for our doorbell at the top left of the church entrance. Continue reading ‘Wanted: Brown Paper Bags’

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