New Jersey Nonprofit Shares the Joy of Reading and Tackles Book Waste

Scholastic Kid Reporter, Mika Jones, meets with Abby Daly, Founder and Executive Director of the Bridge of Books Foundation.

A student’s access to books at home can have a bigger impact on their education than many other factors including their parents' education level or their country's wealth, according to a 2010 study by the University of Nevada. Reading also helps reduce stress, improves sleep, and builds empathy. 

But every year, according to a 2012 study led by the National Wildlife Foundation and McGraw-Hill, around 320 million books end up in landfills.

The Bridge of Books Foundation is working to fix both of these problems by giving books to underprivileged youth and reducing book waste. The program started in California in 2000 with a mission to “bring the world and all its possibilities to children through books.”

Inspired by that idea, Abby Daly, a former New Jersey attorney specializing in children’s rights, founded the New Jersey chapter in 2003. Even though the California branch closed in 2004, the New Jersey program has continued to expand. To date, Bridge of Books has distributed more than 1.5 million books to 600,000 kids across all 21 counties in New Jersey. 

The organization collects new and gently used books through book drives, individual donations, publisher overstocks, and corporate gifts. The books are then distributed to children in need, including kids in foster care, refugees, and even those in juvenile incarceration centers. Bridge of Books also hands out books at schools, community health centers, and local events such as coat and backpack giveaways.

From humble beginnings in her own home, Daly never imagined the program would grow into what it is today. In her 2015 TEDx talk, she shared how it began as a project she fit into her life as a stay-at-home mom “in between the diapers, the feedings, and the playdates” and has now helped the foundation become a smooth-running operation with more people asking for books and more people donating them. 

Even after 23 years, the mission has stayed the same. Daly believes that even with all the new technology available, physical books are just as important as ever. Today, the foundation receives hundreds of book requests each year from all across the state. Some donors and recipients are known to drive for hours to both drop-off and pick-up books. As Daly puts it, “You’d love to get to the point where you say that your mission has been satisfied, but I don't think that this is a mission that will be satisfied because kids need books. And once you get books to them this week, it doesn't mean that they don't need books two weeks from now.”

Despite the impressive work that Bridge of Books is doing, Daly still worries about the bigger picture. She often pores over troubling statistics such as low literacy levels among children living in poverty, middle schoolers missing developmental milestones, and the lack of access to books that she sees firsthand in her work. 

Mika packs donations to be delivered to Bridge of Books.

As a bookworm and environmentalist myself, I was immediately drawn to this cause. My school’s chapter of the National Junior Honors Society (NJHS) collects books for Bridge of Books every fall. Additionally, my sister and I hosted our own “Back to School Book Drive” for the Rumson Junior Green Team and collected over 800 books at our local beach club this summer.

Daly expresses deep gratitude to everyone helping to fuel this mission. She asserts with passion, “All kids should have books to call their own. Period.”