At least that’s what one South Orange resident, Carol Lukoff, believes. She has been collecting used children’s books for over 4 years now for The Children’s Book Pantry of Orange at the YWCA, where children’s books (donated from wealthier communities in Essex County) are given out free.
Lukoff has been a social worker at the Orange School district for many years, and it was there that she saw the need to get books to children who didn’t have them in their homes and start the ReRead program. Carol explains why this is so important:
We need to do more with less now, but we still need to get books into kid’s hands, and for keeps. It’s the only way to increase literacy in children who often only see the printed word during school hours, and often for content that is less than appealing for many students. No exposure to The Wimpy Kid in school, for sure. But this is what turns kids on to reading, and leads to fluency. The lack of a personal library leads to a lifetime of limited literacy, and all the attendant consequences. But a plethora of children’s literature is available for a great, national recycling effort. Most low income areas are ringed by higher income suburbs: and that’s where the books are, usually on shelves, collecting dust. Give them a second life!
In addition to stocking The Children’s Book Pantry with books for all ages, Carol gives out books directly at elementary schools, township events in Orange and anywhere else she can. Now, Carol wants to do more. She is trying to open a second book pantry site on the other end of Orange from where the current pantry is located. She needs more books–lots more. She also needs help, as she explains, “In addition to the Pantry, we will be using a school van to drive around on weekends and in summer, to distribute these gently used books to book starved children and neighborhoods in Orange. It takes volunteers (of all ages), generous suburban neighbors, some donated space, and —-that’s it! No costs! And this, I believe, is what will help “close the gap” between high and low income children.”
Have books to donate? There are three ways to drop them off:
- 376 North Mountain Avenue (across from the train station),Montclair.
- 321 North Wyoming Avenue (2D), South Orange.
- email Carol and she will pick them up.
Baby books through middle school reading levels of fairly recent vintage only. No text books or adult books please.