Baltimore Reads will hold its 17th annual Books for Kids Day Saturday, May 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the parking lot of Poly-Western High School, Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane in Baltimore.

Members of the community are invited to donate new or gently used books that will be redistributed through Baltimore Reads' Book Bank. The goal is to collect 75,000 books over the coming year.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Baltimore Reads’ Book Bank. Since its founding, more than 1.6 million books have been collected and distributed to Greater Baltimore-area schools, teachers, Head Start centers, social services agencies, community organizations and families unable to afford books for a home library for their children.

Suggested donations include picture books, children’s fiction and nonfiction, paperback and hard covers, all types of young adult books, comics and graphic novels as well as infant board books. Books written for adults are also welcome and will become part of Baltimore Reads’ Book Exchange social entrepreneurship program.
Sponsors for Books for Kids Day include Wells Fargo Bank and Von Paris Moving and Storage, who provide a moving van and employees to help transport the books to the Book Bank.

Baltimore Reads accepts book donations year-round at the Book Bank, which is located at The Sun complex at 501 North Calvert Street in Baltimore. Members of the community are welcome to visit Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Directions are on the website at www.baltimorereads.org.

For more information on Books for Kids Day, contact Mark Feiring, director of book bank operations, by phone at 410-752-3595 x. 1118 or by email at mfeiring@baltimorereads.org. Information may also be found at www.baltimorereads.org or www.booksforkidsday.org.

In addition to the Book Bank, Baltimore Reads offers instruction to adults in basic reading, writing, mathematics, English language, GED prep and employment readiness skills; engages in community outreach; and raises awareness of the adult literacy crisis in the Baltimore region.