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PrintToday, SoCal. Tomorrow, the World.
How Bookends and local students are providing children with the gift of books.
When volunteers bring books to organizations, they often read some of their favorites to younger children. Harry Potter tops the list; Keefe usually carries a few copies in her purse to give out.
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Robin Keefe, the founder of Bookends, a southern California-based non-profit that recycles children’s books and takes them to inner-city schools, homeless shelters, children’s group homes and juvenile detention centers, doesn’t mince words: “All children need to be surrounded by books. A child has a right to books. There are plenty of books to go around.”
You’d think she was talking about food, air, water. And yet, there are many parts of Los Angeles, Keefe reports, in which books are considered a luxury. While the national average ratio of books to kids is 22 to 1, in many of Bowokend’s recipient organizations the ratio is just 3 to 1. “Our goal,” says Keefe, “is 5 to 1.”
Keefe, who lives in Calabasas, had a successful career in real estate but later discovered her true passion with Hollygrove, an orphanage in Hollywood. One day in 1993, her 8-year-old son Brandon was home sick from school. Keefe, then the chair of Hollygrove’s board, had a meeting she couldn’t miss. On the agenda: the need for a library. They had the empty room but lacked the funds for books. Brandon overheard the discussion.
The next day at school, when his third-grade teacher explained the importance of community service and asked if any of the children had ideas for ways to help, Brandon raised his hand. “My mom’s orphanage needs books. They need to be in good condition, because these kids deserve it.” Brandon was adamant on that point. In less than a week, kids at Brandon’s school brought in 7,000 books.
Soon the Junior League offered to decorate the library, local librarians helped catalog and organize books and volunteers offered vans and book carts. The word got out. Print stories ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor and local papers in the San Fernando Valley. An office was opened in West Hills (it recently moved to the Westside), and there was no turning back.
