‘Read It Forward’ Book Drive Raises $26,000, Gifts 1,500 Books to NYC Public School Students and Supports Chinatown’s Last Local Chinese Bookstore

Students received a diverse set of books with a holiday greeting card in English, Spanish and Chinese languages

Students across the nation were undoubtedly affected by COVID-19 with the closures of school and remote learning environment. This meant children became isolated from in-person connectivity with their teachers and peers, and had limited access to academic resources like school and public libraries. This is why Welcome to Chinatown and Immigrant Social Services — a community-based non-profit that provides academic support enrichment programs to Chinatown and Lower East Side public school students — teamed up to launch Read It Forward.

The two community organizations partnered together with two goals in mind to serve Chinatown two-fold:

1) Support local businesses in Manhattan Chinatown who have also been greatly impacted by COVID-19’s economic toll.
2) Fundraise and purchase culturally inclusive books for NYC public school students in Chinatown and Lower East Side

Thanks to your generosity and automatic matching by ioby, together, we raised over $26,000 to provide 1,500 books distributed to 500 students over the holidays. You helped us double our initial fundraising goal — meaning 2x more students were served!

“Reading taught me to think outside of the boundaries of the classroom and my home, encouraging creativity in all aspects of my life. It isn't just an escape— it is a tool. Reading sparked an urge to constantly learn more, to keep ingesting new information that informed not only my life but how I viewed the world and people around me. Because I started reading as a child, I've always wanted to understand everything--to know why things happened. Especially today, reading is necessary to help us participate in important conversations that shape our lives and the world. This year, I revived my reading passion and read 21 books so far, and I hope I can fit in a few more.”

 - Kristen Wong, Marketing and /Communications Coordinator Volunteer, Welcome to Chinatown

Thanks to the support of two all-star queens, Monét X Change and Yuhua Hamasaki, native New Yorkers and RuPaul’s Drag Race stars, we were able to meet our fundraising goal by December 6th. They helped promote the importance of having access to culturally-relevant books and reading to young children at home through two live readings on Instagram. 

Check out Yuhua Hamasaki read Born Bad and Red: A Crayon’s Story here. Tune in with the whole family!

The impact of your donations
Welcome to Chinatown partnered with Lee & Low Books and Eastern Book Store NYC to continue its work in supporting small businesses. 

Lee & Low Books is one of the only independent and minority-owned multicultural children's book publishers in the country. The students received specially selected titles from Lee & Low that celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity.

Welcome to Chinatown and Immigrant Social Services dropping off holiday book packages in Chinatown

A diverse library is the best library! Check out the full Read It Forward book list here to help build your own culturally-inclusive children’s library.

Eastern Book Store NYC is Chinatown’s last remaining Chinese language bookstore in the neighborhood. The business was founded in 1976 and has been providing its customers with Chinese language books, calligraphy and printing materials and educational materials for students of all ages. Because of the pandemic, Eastern Book Store lost significant revenue that came from educational book purchases purchased by schools teaching Chinese in their curriculum. The store has seen a 60% decline in its revenue as schools began to close down and transition its students to virtual learning. 

Eastern Book Store will use the funds earned from Read It Forward to help cover rent and the remaining half to cover general administration expenses. Stay tuned tomorrow to learn more about Eastern Book Store.

A big thank you to Immigrant Social Services for their partnership and continuous work supporting communities in-need, and to ioby as our match partner who helped us double our initial fundraising goal. Not only did this help us reach 2x the number of students, it also gave additional and much needed revenue to at-risk businesses like Eastern Book Store NYC.