YPG Cares about Operation Paperback
On October 24th, 2011, YPG Cares held its very first book drive with resounding success! A project to tug the heartstrings, YPG Cares has been partnering with Operation Paperback (www.operationpaperback.org) to collect children’s books to send to our troops overseas so that they can record themselves reading the books aloud to their children. The books and recordings will then in turn be sent home so their children can feel close to their parent who is serving abroad. In addition, Operation Paperback works to send adult books in requested genres to troops recuperating in VA hospitals around the country.
During a happy hour at Gstaad (43 W. 26th Street), over 50 YPG members from 20 publishing houses and literary magazines gathered to support A Book or a Buck: YPG Cares about Operation Paperback. Part networking and part book drive, this event served to collect almost 800 books in a wide variety of genres to send to our troops overseas, veterans recuperating in VA Hospitals, and their families. The response from YPG members was overwhelmingly supportive, both in the physical contribution of personal favorites (Where the Wild Things Are! The BFG! Puzzle books!) and in the generous donation of hard-earned dollars to go toward shipping costs.
The following evening, a small group of YPG Cares organizers gathered at AAP headquarters to sort, process, and package the previous night’s donations. Contributions, both new and gently used, in paperback and hardcover formats included: action, bestsellers, biographies and memoirs, fantasy, history, horror, mysteries, science fiction, true crime, Sudoku, crosswords, and puzzle books, as well as a huge selection of children’s books on various subjects such as animals, earth, celebrities, sports, and space. At the end of the night, YPG had packaged and addressed 20 personalized shipments for service members overseas, as well as another 10 large boxes to multiple VA Hospitals around the country! Check out some photos from the event below:
Thank you again to all those who came out to support this event! Our huge thanks in particular to Rosen Publishing, Fine Print Literary, and Macmillan, who contributed dozens of books each to the drive. Additional thanks to the AAP, who demonstrated continued support of literacy and reading through donating over 70% of the total postage costs to send the packages via US mail.
If you are interested in working with Operation Paperback, please visit them at www.operationpaperback.org and sign up as a volunteer! Keep your eyes peeled for another YPG Cares/Operation Paperback event next fall!
