• ECC News

ECC Volunteer opportunities, past and present! | March 30, 2015

by Nicole Sclama (editorial assistant, Abrams Books) and Hillary Doyle (cross-channel and rights assistant, Scholastic Inc.)

Project Cicero book drive on March 7

Project Cicero is an annual book drive that benefits under-resourced classrooms in New York City public schools. Every year, teachers are invited to browse the collection and select titles to supplement their classroom libraries. This year, teachers flocked to Hotel Pennsylvania on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8 to fill suitcases with gently-used board books, picture books, novels, and nonfiction titles. ECC volunteers joined Project Cicero on Saturday to help sort countless boxes of books into the various categories and age ranges. The very definition of organized chaos, the large conference room was a swirl of activity as hundreds of volunteers carried stacks of books around the room and teachers eagerly perused the titles. ECC volunteers were happy to help this worthy cause and received the added bonus of occasionally spotting their companies’ titles. For more information on Project Cicero, please visit their website.

Volunteer with the ECC and New York Cares!

Want to use your love of books and reading to better the community? So do we! Over the next few months, we’re hoping to send volunteers to reading and education events organized by New York Cares, the city’s largest volunteer management organization (which runs volunteer programs for 1,300 nonprofits, city agencies, and public schools). We’ll be sharing great opportunities from New York Cares as we see them, but in order to be ready to start as soon as possible, you’ll need to complete an orientation. You can find dates and times here. It only takes an hour, and you can even do the entire orientation online!

Once you’ve completed the orientation, you can join your ECC and publishing friends for a meaningful volunteer experience (or volunteer on your own for any projects on the site!)

We’ll be starting out with the event below, email Hillary Doyle at hdoyle@scholastic.com if you’ll be able to join us!

Bedtime Stories at Frederick Douglass Center
Friday April 17 5:30-7pm
Drift off into a world of awe and wonder with the 2nd-5th grade students from the Frederick Douglass Community Center. Volunteers will foster a love of learning by reading with students in small groups or in pairs in order to make books and reading a fun and enriching part of their lives. Each session will conclude with a themed craft activity.