Group that gives books to at-risk kids gets big donation from Goddard School

By Steve Lundy

slundy@dailyherald.com

The Goddard School donated 25,000 new and gently used books to Bernie's Book Bank in Lake Forest on Friday to coincide with National Reading Day.

Kindergartners from the Round Lake Goddard School were on hand to put stickers on books as they spent the morning volunteering. The Round Lake school collected more than 2,000 books.

"They are here volunteering to see first hand where their books went and to gain personal knowledge of how important service is," said Jill Rosenberg, director of communications for Bernie's Book Bank.

The 18 Chicago-area Goddard schools held book drives during the last two years with the intent of donating them to Bernie's Book Bank.

"Book collections like this and drives are the lifeblood of our source for books," Rosenberg said.

Since 2009, Bernie's Book Bank has distributed 3.3 million books to at-risk children across the Chicago region.

To learn more about Bernie's Book Bank visit: http://www.berniesbookbank.org/