Bernie’s Book Bank receives $2,500 donation from Alpha Nu

Eight members of the Alpha Nu chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (women educators) recently volunteered at Bernie’s Book Bank in Lake Bluff. Along with their time, Alpha Nu donated $2,500 to Bernie’s to be used to help replace the books that were damaged in the microburst that lifted their roof.

A stipend Alpha Nu applied for through Lambda State Foundation for Educational Studies, along with donations from the chapter, allowed Bernie’s to receive this donation that would help in replacing some of the 50-70,000 books that were lost. But then chapter members received wonderful news: Kristen Daniels, executive director of Bernie’s, was notified that a foundation friend approached them with an offer to donate 14 pallets of brand new children’s books (a great variety, including Spanish language books) but the Book Bank would need to pay shipping costs for the delivery from the Pacific Northwest.

Bernie’s runs on a slim budget, but, as they say, “Timing is everything.”

Lambda State and Alpha Nu’s stipend covered nearly all of the freight expenses. Each pallet would hold approximately 2,000-2,200 books, making the donation of $2,500 stretch to supply over 28,000 new books to Bernie’s, who will distribute them to schools in need.

“On behalf of Bernie’s Book Bank, we could not be more grateful for your active support and generosity,” Kristen Daniels said. “And the timing could not have been more perfect.