Book Drive Update~ Donations Still Being Accepted!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that live in the US!  I'm guessing not many will be reading blogs today, but I know that the rest of the world is out there who doesn't have a holiday and I thought it might be a good day to post an update for the Pine Ridge Reservation book drive. 

I posted about the Reservation needing books desperately bad and I got a pretty good turn out.  Honestly, I'm happy to get them whatever we can.  First of all, if you are interested in learning more about Pine Ridge and the people who live there, I encourage you to check out A Pine Ridge Story, a website that is all about Pine Ridge and the people who live there. 

Pine Ridge is over 7,000 square miles in size and has been called America's Third World.  Unemployment is at around 80%, 30% of homes don't have electricity or plumbing.  There's no library outside of the college library and the schools have some of the nations lowest funding rates.  I really could go on, but there's no need, I think you all get the point that they can use some books.  In addition, if you happen to have hats, coats, mittens, blankets, etc, they can really use them.  Can you imagine living without electricity in freezing temperatures?  I'm not going to turn this into a coat drive, just keep that in mind if you have some.  They can be sent to the college as well to be distributed.

So far I have received $20 cash and $25 Amazon Gift Card.  I will send these to the librarian to choose the books she feels they can use. Thank you to the two awesome people who donated them!
It appears to be well over 100 books, likely closer to 200 and maybe even 300 (one person said she has a garage full, so I have no idea how many she'll be sending).   Getting an accurate number turned out to be impossible, but it sounds like quite a few have been sent out.  In addition I have sent about 100 of them myself.

Once again, here's the donation information.  You will have to email me to get the mailing address as they wish for it not to be posted publicly.

Here are the options:

• Grab books around the house that are in good condition, not soiled or with tears or water stains.  ARC's are okay.  Put them in a box and ship them out media mail. (This is inexpensive as I shipped two HUGE boxes, over 100 books, and it was less then $20. Of course you have to be in the US to do this.)
• Buy books from the LLC Bookstore; these are books to help keep the Lakota language alive.  They need many, many more of these books.  You can order here: http://stores.languagepress.com/StoreFront.bok and have them shipped to the college. (They had them on Amazon, so I added them to the wishlist there as well, but they are more expensive, it looks like.)
• Gift an Amazon gift card. At this time I'm taking them and then will send one large one, instead of all the small ones. If you prefer to send one directly to them, that's okay too. This way teachers and librarians can pick the books they think are most needed.  {You can also send paypal to me so I can purchase the gift card, this works fine for me.}
• Choose a book off of the wishlist on Amazon and have it shipped directly.  This wishlist was just thrown together by me.  I wasn't given one but I know how much easier it can be to order stuff from a wishlist.  The address is included so when you order it will ship directly to them.  I put up a variety of children's, middle grade and young adult books.  If there are adult books they are non-fiction/self help type, but if you want me to add some, let me know. I know buying directly from a wishlist can be easiest. The wish list is found HERE.  I have giftcards on there, but I'm not sure how that works.  I would say that you can send it to me and I'll send one large one to them, but if you want to send directly to them contact me for their email address. (mine is candacesbookblog(at)yahoo(dot)com)

If you have recommendations  for books to be added to the wishlist, please tell me!  I've been adding books randomly. I sometimes get some that pop into my head, but much of these are just by me clicking for age groups. 

Please feel free to share on your blog, social media and everywhere you possibly can!  The more people that know, the better!

Authors: Your books are welcome!  I have had authors send copies of their books before.  From board books to adult books, they'll take them all!  Send one, send twenty. It's totally up to you, but they'll love whatever they get!

I was asked to please not share the address publicly, that is why it's not listed here.  Please email me at candacesbookblog(at)yahoo(dot)com with your donation info (approx number and type, you don't have to be precise) and I'll send you the mailing address.