FIRST BOOK

Check out the gifts our 7 - 10 year olds will be receiving this year. We received 3,000 of these gems, 1500 of each title. Each child will receive one of each title. These fabulous books were a gift from First Book, What a great organization. Our only cost was the UHaul truck rental for two days and the drive from St. Louis, to Granite City, Illinois and back.

We started out thinking we could get these books into the back of a full size pickup truck and an SUV. What a silly idea. We arrived at the Coast Guard Auxillary warehouse and found 6 pallets of books. We were able to get two pallets into the truck and SUV. So, we drove them to Oak Hill Presbyterian Church back in St. Louis and unloaded the SUV, drove to the local Uhaul, rented a truck and headed back to Granite City. The First Book volunteers were great, they loaded the rest of the books with a fork lift and we headed back out. The decision was made to wait until the next day to unload the UHAUL when we would have more volunteers available. The only problem, I parked the UHAUL in my driveway at home, and the neighbors all thought we were moving. " NO just storing 2,000 books in my drive way over night, no need to panic".

Finally all the books were unloaded and they have been packaged together two in a pack, the girls get an extra treat in their bags and the boys will receive a basketball or football. We know that's sexist, but space availablity does not lend itself to allowing a large display for families to choose from a large selection of toys. We will be serving about 3,000 kids ages newborn - 10 years.

Each book retails for $14.99. The total cost of this project to BRO, a little volunteer time and effort and $175 for truck rental and gas. The look on the faces of kids and parents on Christmas morning, we hope is priceless.

Official countdown to toy distribution ....... 6 days!