To my many warm-hearted readers:
Over the years I’ve received hundreds of requests for autographed book donations from readers working with seniors, children, and many worthy organizations. I’ve done my best to honor them. Recently, however, the demand has grown to the point where I receive several new requests each week, more than a hundred a year, and fulfilling them has become impossibly time consuming, not to mention the fact that I don’t have that many books lying around the house. After pondering long and hard, I’ve decided I can no longer fulfill these requests and still find the time to write. At the same time, I want to honor my many caring readers. What to do?
Instead of donating autographed books, I’ve decided to make a $1000.00 donation each year, beginning in 2005, to the FIRST BOOK program in honor of all of you who work so hard for such good causes. FIRST BOOK gives children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books, something so many of us take for granted.
Here are some other wonderful charities I support:
HEALTH CONNECT ONE: A community based health education organization that supports mothers and babies by training professional and lay health workers to help new moms. I’m especially excited by their “Doula” program, which provides breastfeeding support to teen mothers.
BOOKS A GO GO: An exciting grass roots organization based in Jacksonville, Florida and designed to get books to kids. Extend this model to your own community.
HEART GALLERY: The marvelous organization April Robillard works for in Natural Born Charmer is real. Read more about it.
MoveFwd, a Minneapolis organization that helps youth and families at risk.
Thanks everybody for the loving work you do.
Susan Elizabeth