More than 50,000 donated books later, a Step by Step lending library takes shape in Southern West Virginia.
STEP BY STEP HAS HAD A LOT OF HELP from volunteers as the West Virginia non-profit seeks to put more than 50,000 donated books into the hands of children and families in Southern West Virginia. This video features Step by Step Executive Director and founder Michael Tierney talking about a nice problem to have: What to do with more than 50,000 books?
The books were gathered up in a series of book drives by an Illinois woman, Shari Gullo, who wanted to help set up a lending library in Appalachia. Through Berea College in Kentucky, she heard about the bookish reputation of the Big Ugly Community Center in Lincoln County, W.Va., and Step by Step.
"At Big Ugly, we've had a reputation of being really passionate about getting great books in kids and families' hands," says Tierney in the video. Gullo has been passionate in her pursuit of the goal of donating books toward a lending library in Appalachia — 50,639 books, to be exact.
"This helps us fill out our family library project, where we work with kids to tell us their interests and what they think is fun We find books that really are tailored to what they are already interested in," says Tierney. "We hope to get 10 to 15 books per kid, per year, in all of our programs."
AND PAY HEED. If your organization could use books, Step by Step wants to share.
"The surplus —we're looking for prisons, rehab centers and other places, particularly that can use adult books," says Tierney.
The most recent shipment of books arrived in April 2019. A team of young volunteers from the National and Community Conservation Corps has worked for weeks to help sort and organize the collection. Watch them in action in the video.
FOR MORE ON THE PROJECT, e-mail: familylibrary@stepbystep.org. Or call the Big Ugly Community Center at 304.855.5402.
CREDITS: This video was a team effort. The video was produced by Douglas Imbrogno of thestoryisthething.com, with additional video footage and some wonderful shots of kids with books by Kate Long.
SOUNDTRACK: We are grateful to the EDM composer and performer Lucas the Flow for use of his song "Master Plan." For more on his music, visit soundcloud.com/lucastheflow