Upcoming Free Book Bus events

We gave out 77 books to Head Start preschoolers and siblings. 

We visited Red Hill Elementary School 102 years after my great-grandfather taught there! The bus gave out 145 books to pre-k and kindergarten students and siblings. My great-grandfather, Warren Benyew Dunham, taught at Red Hill from 1915-1917. This was a special stop and we look forward to coming back. 

Distribution day for pantry clients! We are getting to know people and what kinds of books they like. 

Our first trip to New Roots Charlottesville farmer’s market was much busier than we expected! - we gave out 110 books. There were lots of kids, and my two copies of Dogman (graphic novel) flew off the bus in the first 5 minutes. Other popular categories were chapter books, ABC  books, coloring supplies and Captain Underpants. We welcomed refugee families who spoke Nepali, Farsi, Dari, Arabic and Swahili/French.

We gave out 258 books at this event!  I was happy to be a part of the Safe Summer Kickoff, hosted by the Crozet chapter of Moms Demand Action - VA. Police, fire, rescue and our pediatrician’s office Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville were there helping families learn about keeping kids safe. I met a  bunch of great people and will hopefully be able to connect with other  schools and community organizations. Highlights included “selling” a  young girl who liked fantasy books on the Narnia  series; showing many small children how to open/shut the bus doors;  getting book suggestions from older kids; seeing a family who donated a ton of books to us over the winter, and maneuvering  the bus into a tight parking spot between two tables fully staffed by Albemarle County police officers 😬😊 (they were very helpful). We are also very grateful to those who donated money - we now have $52 more to buy books! Thank you!

We gave out 88 books AND CBS19 came by to do a story on the bus! Check out the home page for the video. 

I bought a bunch of coloring books and have restocked the bus for this week's trip to Michie Market. It's open to the public - come out and shop for beautiful vegetables grown by local refugee families. 

Our regular monthly stop for clients of the Pantry. 

We had our busiest day so far at Truck Touch at IX Art Park.  This was the first time we’ve had a line waiting to get on the bus. We set a record:  we gave out 530 books!  The proceeds from the Truck Touch benefit the Montessori School of Charlottesville’s scholarship program, which provides financial support for needy families who may not otherwise have access to a high-quality 

preschool. Thank you so much to Montessori School of Charlottesville for having us! 

Sharon took the bus to the third annual Circix, benefiting Bennett’s Village, an all-abilities park in Charlottesville, and celebrating our community of all spectrums.  We had our busiest day yet at IX Art Park! Over 100 kids visited the bus, and we gave out 228 books.  

Sharon did a little time traveling and went back to J.T. Henley Middle School for the first time in 36 (!)  years. Two 8th graders, Emmie and Kimberly, had done a wonderful  project on the bus. They are just starting a book drive and we collected  106 books! The Free Book Bus is so grateful to Emmie and Kimberly for  this fantastic project! 

Sharon took the bus to the Whitney Faith Loving Community  Playground in Nelson for a Tye River Elementary family night. Families  were there from Head Start, Bright Start and the Early Childhood Special  Education classes. We gave out 216 books! Special thanks to Caroline N David Parr and all of the teachers for their work in arranging this, and to Sandy Solar for sewing 25 wonderful book bags for the kids! 

 Gave out a handful of books and talked to people about the bus mission.  The Free Book Bus was given $552 from entrance fees! 

We gave out 40 books to families staying at the house while their children are being treated at UVA Medical Center. 

The Saturday morning Nelson Food Pantry stops are only open to clients coming to the distribution day. 

• April 27, 2019; Derrick gave away 155 books. The bus had about 15 word search and crossword books for adults and he quickly gave them all out - putting them back on the shopping list! 
• March 30, 2019; we gave away 352 books
• February 23, 2019; Derrick went to this and gave away over 200 books
• January 26th, 2019; we gave away 236 books.
• December 15th, 2018, Nelson County Pantry; on our first visit we gave away 461 books to families and children of all ages.

 We stopped at Hillside School in Charlottesville and gave away 34 book to a mix of preschoolers and K-4th graders. The best part of this stop was being the first "school bus experience" for some of the younger kids :) 

 Over 100 books were given away at North Branch School to kids ages 4-14.  

The inaugural Free Book Bus event! We set up with a table and bins, since the bus had not been purchased yet. We gave out 67 books at the church's monthly food distribution.  

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