Bibliophiles of America, BOOKS-A-GO GO, Inc.

BOOKS-A-GO GO was inspired by seeing the impact books donated by Jacksonville Country Day School had on the students at West Jacksonville Elementary School, Jacksonville, Florida.   

Jacksonville Country Day School (JCDS) had some old library books they were not going to use anymore and wanted to donate them to children who needed them.  The books were taken to West Jacksonville Elementary School in Jacksonville Florida. ( West Jax is 98% low income students, and their families find it difficult to buy books for their children.) 

Each child picked a book and got to take it home.  For many children, it was the first book they ever owned!  They hugged their books, and some carried them back and forth from school everyday because they were so proud to own a book.  Some teachers needed to write the child's name in the book because many kid's did not believe they could own a book.  Parents called the school thinking their child stole the book, not believing that their child could own a book.

When JCDS heard the positive reaction, they decided to do a book drive, having their students bring in the books they were no longer using.  A local neighborhood also had children's book drive.

Hundreds of books were collected, and the children loved getting the books.

So how did these book drives lead to BOOKS-A-GO GO?

Hundreds of books were donated by friends, and other schools heard about our books, and asked for books for their students.
 
We decided to have a community book drive to get books for the children in Northeast Florida in March 2007, we called it BOOKS-A-GO GO.  What did we have to loose?

We were about to embark on a most incredible journey with BOOKS-A-GO GO..... 

DriveTime provided drop off locations, and University of North Florida interns would do the processing of the books.  

The books poured in, and we were amazed at the support of the community and the Mayor's office.  We also realized that the need for the books was even greater than we thought.

Bibliophiles of America, BOOKS-A-GO GO Inc. was incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit organization.  

We had our first National Campaign in 2008, and now BOOKS-A-GO GO is celebrating 11 years, and almost 1 million books given out to children in need across the country, and in 25 countries around the world!