“Today I dropped another shipment of books off at our local shelter. As I wrestled the first box out of the car, a woman trotted over.
‘Are you donating books?’ she asked.
‘Yup.’
‘Do you mind if I grab one before you bring them in? They get snatched up pretty quick.’
‘Help yourself! What sorts of things do you like to read?’
‘I’d love a mystery, if you have any.’”
That was the message I got this morning from Chris Holm.
This all started back in January. I was listening to WNYC. They were reporting on the pressure homeless shelters experience during the winter months. A woman called in. Sadly, she had visited shelters in both the U.S. and abroad. The difference? Europe has books. Lots of books. She said, “Shelters here don’t have enough. They want us to get in and get out.” Books give people a reason to stay inside in extreme weather. Staying inside saves lives.
It got me thinking. Our community may not be the wealthiest, but there’s certainly one thing we have an embarrassment of riches of—books. So Project Booknado was born. I reached out to authors in different states, all of whom couldn’t wait to find a shelter near them and drop off a box of books.
Chris’ message this morning reminded me that the homeless need as much reason to stay inside in the summer heat as they do in the winter snow. All of the shelters on the list below welcome donations of books (as well as many other things)—not all shelters do.
The list is far from comprehensive, so if you know of a shelter I’ve missed, please e-mail me: sirensofsuspense@gmail.com. This list is online at: http://sirensofsuspense.com/booknado please share!
With thanks to:
Gordon Warnock, Joshua Corin, Dana Kaye, Lesa Holstine, Michael A. Stackpole, Matthew Clemens, Jim Dietz, Chris Holm, Jess Lourey, Jason Pinter, Dawn Frederick, Sara Henry, Brad Parks, John Kwiatkowski, Bob Dugoni, Owen Laukkanen and many more…
Chantelle Aimée Osman is the Editor-in-Chief of RT Book Reviews, as well as the founder of the Sirens of Suspense and LCC 2016 Fan Guest of Honor. A freelance editor specializing in mystery/suspense/thriller, science-fiction and fantasy, she is also an instructor with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. A former lawyer and head of development for production companies in Hollywood, Chantelle is the author of the non-fiction series on writing THE QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO… she has also published numerous flash fiction and short stories. She is currently editing an episodic anthology, SERIAL KILLER, for Polis Books to be released Spring, 2017.
PROJECT BOOKNADO
Homeless Shelter Book Drive
“I’ll help, on the off chance that there might be prostitutes at the shelter.”
-Anonymous Writer
ARIZONA
Family Promise of Greater Phoenix
7221 E. Belleview St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
T: (480) 659-5227
http://familypromiseaz.org
CALIFORNIA
St. John’s Program for Real Change
4410 Power Inn Road
Sacramento, CA 95826
T: (916) 453-1482
http://saintjohnsprogram.org
GEORGIA
Atlanta VA Medical Center
1670 Claremont Road
Decatur, GA 30033
T: (877) 222-8387
http://www.atlanta.va.gov
ILLINOIS
Sarah’s Circle
4838 N. Sheridan Rd
Chicago, IL
773.728.1991
http://www.sarahs-circle.org/contact-us/location-and-directions.html
INDIANA
Dayspring Center
P.O. Box 44105
Indianapolis, IN 46244-0105
T: (317) 635-6780
http://dayspringindy.org
IOWA
Central Iowa Shelter & Services
1420 Mulberry Street
Des Moines, IA 50309
T: (515) 284-5719
http://www.centraliowashelter.org
MAINE
Preble Street Resource Center
5 Portland Street
Portland, ME 04101
T: (207) 874-1005
http://www.preblestreet.org
MINNESOTA
Anna Marie’s Women’s Shelter
Anna Marie’s Alliance
PO Box 367
St Cloud, MN 56302
http://www.annamaries.org/
NEW JERSEY
The Hoboken Shelter
300 Bloomfield Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201-656-5069
http://hobokenshelter.org
NEW YORK
Providence House
703 Lexington Avene
Brooklyn, NY 11221
http://www.providencehouse.org/volunteer
TEXAS
Covenant House (homeless teens)
1111 Lovett Blvd.
Houston, TX 77006
covenanthouse.org/homeless-charity/texas
Houston Area Women’s Shelter
1010 Waugh Dr.
Houston TX 77019
www.hawc.org
VERMONT
Groundworks Drop-In Center
60 S. Main St. / P.O. Box 370
Brattleboro, VT 05301
T: (802) 257-5415
https://groundworksvt.org
VIRGINIA
The Haven
5726 Richmond Rd.
Warsaw, VA 22572
T: (804) 333-1099
http://www.havenshelter.org
WASHINGTON
MSC Multi-Service Center
1200 S. 336th St.
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 838-6810
mschelps.org
CANADA
The Bloom Group
391 Powell Street
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1G5
Email: info@thebloomgroup.org
Phone: 604-606-0300
Fax: 604-606-0309
Downtown Eastside Women’s Center
302 Columbia Street
412 E Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 4J1
Vancouver, BC V6A 1L6
Tel: 604-681-8480
Tel: 604-715-8480
Fax: 604-681-8470
http://dewc.ca
