Bookmobile News

Welcome!

You are currently browsing the Bookmobile News weblog archives for December, 2009.

 
Categories
Archives
Volunteers Who Make Us Shine (TM)
Written by admin, December 24th, 2009   

Ha! We’re not really going to trademark the title because that wouldn’t be in the spirit of sharing. And the spirit of sharing is something our newest dedicated volunteer embodies. Carrie Hess is the head of the children’s programs at COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) where I work, and has dived headlong into service, yet again, with the Bookmobile project.

She brings something unique to the show. Claiming to be shy, Carrie has been a terrific host to our patrons as she accompanies us to many of our events. She often remembers what she has seen while helping load the trailer, and can steer hopeful browsers to the right spot. In Sebastopol, she directed a gentleman to a particular translation of Siddhartha for which he had been searching for 21 years!

Children are near and dear to her heart. She has a warm, gentle way with them, and they listen when she recommends books in the Kids Klub. She also makes sure that every child goes away with a beautiful hand-crafted bookmark. Carrie makes these special designs at home from her bountiful crafting supplies. Many feature fancy textures or three-dimensional creatures.

Be sure to check out our latest photo pages for shots of Carrie and her bookmarks in action. We have two new galleries: one from our first Roseland adventure, and another that documents our last three months of travels.

Happy – and safe – Holidays to you and yours!


Read more...
 
Reaching Out in Roseland
Written by admin, December 13th, 2009   

Once we heard that the county library system had planned a new branch in Roseland before the budget cuts hit, our interest in the area was confirmed. Normally we would consider residents of urban areas to have ready access to libraries but let’s face it: low-income families often don’t have an easy time getting around town. Without a place that’s really convenient to reach, plenty of kids will be going without.

Enter the Sonoma County Free Bookmobile. We scoured the event listings for likely spots and decided to visit a craft fair at the Southwest Youth Center on West Avenue. The attendance there, however, was disappointing for our purposes; fortunately we had spotted a flyer for a community Christmas party planned for that same day at the Roseland Fire Department. We popped over to Burbank Avenue and found the organizers to be warm in their welcome. They estimated that hundreds of kids would be interested in the books and they were right! Sometimes these things just come together, and it seems the Bookmobile is often blessed with a little luck just when we need it.

It turned out to be our best outreach to children yet – we gave away 423 books to 136 boys and girls. Many took some for their brothers and sisters. It was a delightful day, made even better by our introduction to Jo Anne Cohn of the Southwest Area Community Advisory Board, and Ed Buonaccorsi of the Santa Rosa Recreation, Parks & Community Services Department. No doubt we can continue our work in the area by partnering with these new friends on future events.

As you can see from our schedule (don’t forget you can click the link below the “Recent Events” list to see all of our past giveaways), we’ve been gleefully busy. We also have some great stuff in the works behind the scenes, including sponsorship by a new group, renewed commitment from current partners, and a fabulous new volunteer named Carrie Hess. Carrie has been a huge help at many of our latest stops, including the generous donation of custom bookmarks she makes for the kids. We’ll get some pictures up soon of these beautiful works of art, as well as details of the building of the Bookmobile support team. So, as always, stay tuned…


Read more...