Shortly after Hindi Kanarfogel passed away from complications of Crohn’s disease last year, her husband Dovid Kanarfogel and Leslie Gang teamed up to create Hindi’s Libraries and carry on Hindi’s book-loving, child-focused legacy. The nonprofit collects new and gently used children’s books from across the New York area to donate to hospitals, schools, and other organizations in need. So far, Kanarfogel and Gang have collected about 675 boxes of books from local communities that will go to kids in other local communities–recycling books, making sure kids always have awesome reading material, and enabling families to give back and make a difference.
Wondering how you can get involved in Hindi’s Libraries this fall? Gang has shared the three best ways to lend a hand to the organization. Right now Kanarfogel and Gang run the entire operation themselves with a team of volunteers, so there are several things you can do to make sure as many books get to local organizations as possible.
1. Volunteer to start a book drive in your community.
You can run a drive through your local school, temple, church, Elks Lodge, and more, Gang says. She will supply you will promotional materials and language, and all you have to do is promote the drive in your community. Gang says people have managed to collect thousands of books!
2. Volunteer to handle what happens after you collect the books.
In order for books to make it to organizations that need them, Gang and Kanarfogel have to pick up books from drives, perform quality checks, sort them into categories (infant stories, early readers, chapter books, middle school books, high school novels, and more), label each book individually, pack them into boxes, and ship them out. If your teen needs volunteer hours or your kid just loves sorting books, Gang will provide you with quality checking and sorting instructions. Once the books are sorted, you can label them using labels that will be provided, so all Gang and Kanarfogel have to do is box them!
3. Host a Hindi's Libraries fundraiser.
Gang and Kanarfogel have to ship hundreds of boxes of books–so the money they’ve raised so far doesn’t cover everything. Your family can host a lemonade stand, bake sale, or any kind of fundraiser you can think of to get your community donating. All donations will go directly to shipping books to the organizations that need them!
Hindi’s Libraries has made a splash since its founding. Now, Disney sends the organization 1,000 new books per week–which is perfect for kids in hospitals and medical centers who need to handle only new books to stay healthy. But taking in that volume of books means Gang and Kanarfogel need all the help–in terms of manpower and finances–they can get.
Despite these challenges, Gang says Hindi’s Libraries is worth it.
“I get told a lot, ‘You must be crazy. You work full time, you’re raising kids, and you’re doing this,’” Gang says. “I’ll tell you this: When you see first hand that it’s so easy to make a difference, you just do it.”
To learn more about how you can give back through books this fall with your family, visit the Hindi's Libraries site.
Main Image: Charlie, who received his Mickey book from Hindi's Libraries after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Courtesy Wishes & More®.
