On March 12, 2020, due to the emerging COVID pandemic, we learned that San Franciscans would be staying home, schools around the Bay Area would move online, and we would be closing our doors to the public. That weekend, board members and volunteers rallied to deliver children’s books before the Stay Home orders went into effect — and through the months to come we continued to accept, quarantine, and deliver books for children at public housing, Boys and Girls Clubs, Head Start programs, Learning Hubs, food distribution sites, shelters, public health clinics, and the like. On November 11, 2020, we moved our Book Bank across the city to a bigger, well-ventilated location where we reopened to the public gradually, and our part-time team of staff and volunteers have been safely serving ever more book donors and clients since then.
We’re proud that we never stopped working to fulfill our mission during the pandemic — and from March 2020 to date we have given away over 205,000 children’s books to children who need books of their own, now more than ever! We’re grateful to all our supporters who help us ensure books are accessible to our most vulnerable children, so they can grow and succeed to their full potential.