Find a Book a Home Foundation/History Makers of the Future Inc.

why it's important:

What started out as a simple way of collecting new and gently used books to redistribute to children within our community who could not afford books of their own, rapidly developed into a much bigger project that crossed over state lines to help those in need.
Books have been sent to many disaster relief areas to help replace those lost from major
disasters such as Hurricane Katrina tornado stricken areas of Oklahoma to mention a few.
In 2008, central Indiana, saw some of the worst flooding that it had seen in years and we were there to help replace thousands of books that were lost due to flood waters.
The Foundation also helps to build libraries for patients in small town hospitals by
providing the bookcases and thousands of books to fill the shelves. We started out by focusing mainly on the pediatric wards, but have recently started to add adult sections as well.
In 2007 the History Makers of the Future was developed to help children with educational and financial needs, with both their education and self esteem. Groups of up to 120 children receive an all expense paid trip to one of our Nations largest historical Landmark Districts in the state of Indiana. For many of the children this is the farthest they have ever traveled away from their home and many are really amazed when they look across the Ohio River and actually get to see another state (Kentucky). The children are chosen through teachers and counselors at their schools based upon needs. They are children who will be attending 4th grade the following fall (Indiana requires all 4th grade students to study Indiana history) this program is designed to help them get excited about learning and with their self esteem because they are really excited when they get chosen. We ask teachers not to say what the criteria was to be chosen, so that these children will feel extra special. Each school is only allowed to elect a certain number of children each year for this program. It is a twelve hour educational tour and the foundation covers all entry fees, travel, food, and some fun extras.
These programs really touch my heart because sometimes I think we tend to forget about the needs that we have in our own communities. I feel that if we can help just one child to know his or hers worth and know that no matter what the circumstances are in their life that if they are willing to try to work hard that they can make a better future for themselves, then we have reached our goal.
I also think it is important that I can show other people my age that you do not have to go out and raise thousands of dollars, or save an entire village, to be able to make a difference in our world. Something as simple as giving a child a book of their own can possibly change that child’s life for the better.If we all just do what we can,we really can make this world a better place for us all.

the plan of action:

To start this project I simply asked the principal if I could have a table at our monthly after school fairs to collect donated books. I took in books and gave out tickets for drawings for prizes which I had purchased with my own money. This went over very well, so I took it a step further and started having donation sites at various programs that I was working with. Then I started creating permanent donation sites. Books started coming in by the thousands and then being categorized, reboxed and tagged for where they would be going or used for. I had some stores who started to help out by donating bookcases for our libraries and then some local bookstores joined in to help by donating books that they no longer needed. Several school libraries also donated their older books
And it was unbelievable how many people came forward to help with what the Find a Book a Home Foundation does.
It was the same way with the History Makers of the Future. I started out with a small grant from a local foundation, the Youth Philanthropy Initiative and then after reading about our maiden trip in the paper, several other corporate sponsors came on board to help us with items such as food and other materials to make the trips successful.
I put in many hours a week working on the Foundation’s many projects,but I have gained so many learning experience and the pure joy of helping others that it really doesn’t seem like work at all. I would highly recommend getting out there and “Doing Something” to everyone that I can.

how you can get involved:

With the exception of what grants I have applied for I have never really asked any individuals to donate anything financially to the Foundation. I have received help from
Companies and individuals who have read about the programs that we provide, but I have never asked for direct monetary donations. If there is a company out there or a store that would like to partner with me by providing the much needed bookcases for our libraries well that would be a REAL blessing!
I would be glad to accept donations of books, but I know that shipping books is VERY
Expensive, so if you have books you no longer want do NOT throw them away, ask your local school if they know if any children could use them, ask your local churches if they know of a child or and adult who could enjoy the books you no longer need, see if a nursing home or senior center in your area has a needed, drop them by a local hospital
Maybe ask your local Red Cross if they can send them overseas with their next care packages for our servicemen to enjoy, check out the giving trees at Christmas, SHOP
WITH A COP, or TOYS for TOTS, also many organizations are looking for items to place in gift bags or boxes for families in need, so don’t throw them away FIND THEM A HOME. As you can see the Foundation has found many places that we deliver books to
And we are helping to save our environment by recycling the books back into other peoples hands and saving some of our natural resources.
Our History Maker Trips require a lot of food, boy who would ever think little 3rd graders could eat so much, we also give each child a prize for being in the big Super Quiz Bowl at the end of the trip (everyone is a winner no matter what), so we need age appropriate gifts for boys and girls, but again that is really hard to put in an envelope and send at a reasonable cost, SO if you want to help, we ask that you buy gift cards at your favorite local burger paradise and take them to your local mission and ask them to give them to children in need.
These things may not help the Foundation directly, BUT we are not about getting it all for us to use we are about getting anything anywhere into a persons hand that can really use it, so if you like what we are doing , but want to help then this would mean a lot to us.
Now if you really still feel the need that you would like to help the Foundation directly you are more than welcome to, we are certainly not going to turn any help down.
The Foundation is registered with the state of Indiana as a non-profit corporation.
100% of any funds that come to the Foundation are used for Foundation projects there are no employees so every dime is used to purchase, bookcases, sometimes we have to pay to ship books to other areas that’s why I said early it can be expensive, and our History Maker trips has many things that it can always use any funding it can. As I said earlier just make sure you get your unwanted books into the hands of someone who could really enjoy them and you have already donated to our cause.

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