Another Successful Library Transformation!
Access Books Bay Area is excited to announce that we completed our third Library Renovation Project on September 30, 2017 at Willow Oaks Elementary School in the Ravenswood City School District. This is a district where 88% of families are low income, 81% of the students are reading below grade level and 40% of the students are homeless or don’t have stable and secure housing. Since the Willow Oaks library was lacking in new books that inspire students to read, Access Books Bay Area donated nearly 600 brand new books for the library that the Library Specialist at Willow Oaks chose herself, and over 1300 gently used books for the individual classroom libraries. This project was in partnership with The Young Men’s Service League Redwood and The Young Men’s Service League Peninsula. Volunteers from both YMSL organizations worked alongside families and staff from Willow Oaks Elementary School to process the new and gently used books for the school library and the individual classrooms. The Junior League of Palo AltoŸ Mid Peninsula and some wonderful neighbors through NextDoor in Palo Alto donated the gently used books for this project. Partnerships are essential to our organization’s ability to plan and execute these service projects! Thank you so much YMSL moms and sons, Willow Oaks’ Principal Cynthia Chin and Library Specialist Rebecca Sanchez, and the families and staff of Willow Oaks who took the time out of their Saturday to volunteer. We couldn’t do this without our partners and donors! Thank you to all participants!
Below are some pictures from our library refurbishment at Willow Oaks. Clockwise from the top: Organizing volunteers and unloading books; Board member Linda Forrester, Director Amanda Collins and Board member Alison Guan; Volunteers sorting and labeling books; Brand new books arriving.

Seeking new partners
Access Books Bay Area needs your help in the following ways:

• Donations: In order to make our future service projects a reality, we need donations to purchase brand new high quality/high interest hardcover books, furniture, paint and supplies. It takes on average $17,000 to complete a library renovation. Donate Now.
• Partner Organizations: We are always looking for new organizations to partner with. Would your organization like to organize a book drive to collect at least 2000 gently-used pleasure reading books for children in grades K-5? This is a great project for scouts, middle schools, high school students working on their community service projects and other community service organizations. For more information on starting a book drive Learn more here. Partner organizations typically volunteer on the day of the service project that they collected books for as well.
• Volunteers: We need volunteers for our service projects (next one will be Spring 2018) to sort books, process books, and paint colorful murals. Please contact Linda Forrester if you or your organization would like to be added to the Spring 2018 volunteer list.
• Are You Next?  We are taking applications for Bay Area elementary schools that serve primarily low-income students and have a demonstrated need for a refurbished library.Contact us to apply, or email Amanda Collins, director of Access Books Bay Area.