In just two weeks, Westmoor School students collected 3,424 new and gently used books for Bernie’s Book Bank, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing books for children in low-income neighborhoods. Junior Girl Scout Troop 41263 led the effort, setting grade-level goals and school-wide goals, making classroom announcements, and counting the books four times during the course of the drive.

On November 4, the scouts made a final count and boxed up the thousands of books to give to Brian Floriani, a representative from Bernie’s Book Bank. The scouts’ goal was for Westmoor families to donate 2,500 books, so the school exceeded that goal by nearly 1,000 books. The scouts will continue to stay involved with the project and will be traveling to the Book Bank to sort books, and hopefully, to help distribute some of the books to other children.

“The students’ enthusiasm was contagious, and I think it helped motivate all of the Westmoor students to bring in books,” said Assistant Scout Leader Meghan Rosenfeld. “It was really quite impressive what the girls accomplished, and for such a great cause!”

According to the Book Bank, there is a ratio of approximately 1 book for every 300 children in low-income neighborhoods. The organization facilitates the collection, processing, and redistribution of quality new and gently used children’s books, with the goal of significantly increasing book ownership among at-risk infants, toddlers and school-age children living throughout the Chicago area.

The fifth grade scouts completed this project as part of earning the Bronze Award, the highest award for a junior girl scout. Athena Abbott is the troop leader, and Meghan Rosenfeld and Melissa Prober are the assistant leaders.