Bernie's Book Bank suffers storm damage
Bernie's Book Bank, which annually donates thousands of books to schools in the six-county metropolitan area, suffered the potential loss of 50,000 books due to storm damage at its Lake Bluff facility.
Kristen Daniels, Bernie's executive director, said a quick-moving storm Tuesday, Sept. 5, into Wednesday, Sept. 6, lifted off the corner of the roof on the warehouse's northwest side, exposing the interior to falling debris.
"Water from the storm was just rolling in," she said.
The storm damage was discovered by facility team members arriving at the warehouse Wednesday morning.
Though the extent of the damage and loss is being investigated, Daniels said preliminary estimates indicate at least 50,000 books were damaged.
"It's an unfortunate setback, but our trucks will still be out tomorrow delivering books to Chicagoland children and creating pathways to success through book ownership," Bernie's CEO Darrin Utynek said.
Bernie's was founded in 2009 by Brian Floriano, who initially operated it out of his garage. Floriano named the nonprofit after his father, Bernard, son of a coal miner who went on to earn multiple degrees in reading education, according to Bernie's website.
In 2015, the company moved into the Lake Bluff facility. Working through Title 1 schools and early childhood programs to serve children up through the sixth grade, on average Bernie's distributes 2.5 million books annually, Daniels said.
Since 2009, it has donated more than 24 million free books to schools and communities in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
The storm damage and subsequent investigation closed the facility for two days last week.
"The most pressing issue is to get the facility back open to volunteers and also to be able to accept new donations," Daniels said.
She said at any given time 35 to 40 people work in the Lake Bluff facility at 917 N. Shore Drive, which welcomes up to 40,000 volunteers a year.
"That manpower is invaluable to us as an organization," Daniels said.
Though obviously unforeseen, the timing couldn't be better for a previously planned community book drive hosted by the Rotary Club of Northbrook on Sept. 22.
It will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Meadow Plaza parking lot, site of the Northbrook Farmers Market at Meadow Road and Cherry Lane. People may bring gently used children's books, with a drive-through option assisted by volunteers able to help remove the books from donors' vehicles.
Rotary is partnering with several Northbrook schools that also are hosting book drives leading up to the Sept. 22 community book drive.
"It's the beginning of the school year, and 300,000 Chicagoland children are counting on us to provide free books," Daniels said. "We are very grateful the damage was not greater, and thankful no one was injured. But we started from humble beginnings, so we don't mind a little hard work. It's certainly a bump in the road, but it's also brought out the good in so many people."