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KinderHarvest

Organizing Your Local KinderHarvest Team

There are a few very important keys to success:

  • Build your team first for a dependable and sustainable effort. Collecting and distributing magazines is much easier to do when lots of people are involved, each with a small amount of magazine work. For example, each team member and a back-up might be responsible for collecting or delivering magazines to a small number of locations. Others can help to keep the team's information organized, while another group promotes the team's work to local media. The team should meet at least once a month to address organizational matters and to sort, label and bundle magazines for delivery. We have online tools you can use to grow and keep track of your team.
  • Before you start to collect magazines, identify the shelters, food pantries and other agencies that are going to take them. Get an idea about what types of magazines they would like to receive and about how many and how often. Find out how many boys, girls, teens, and/or families they help each month. We'd also like to plot the collection sites and locations of agencies served on our online map to show others where KinderHarvest activities are taking place. We have some online tools that you can use to gather and keep track of this information.
  • Count the magazines you collect and distribute. This is important to measure your local impact and the overall impact of our program. If possible, keep track of the counts by magazine title and issue for each collection and for each distribution to an agency. If that is not possible, then count magazines collected and distributed by category. At a minimum, keep track of how many magazines you collect and distribute in the following categories: children's magazines, teen magazines, consumer magazines. Or count by subject matter categories, such as news, home and garden, sports, cars, science, entertainment, etc. We have some online tools you can use to keep track of your counts.
  • Removing labels: Often, the magazines you collect will have paper or ink mailing labels. These need to be carefully removed or obscured with a permanent marker so that donors don't feel the need to tear the covers to remove them (to protect their privacy). This ensures that new readers will receive magazines in good shape - so it's an enjoyable and dignified experience. This is an important step in the KinderHarvest program, as well as affixing a new label. There is more information about that, as well as a "gift" label template you can print, on this web page: http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=ideas#label
  • A word about funds. Your volunteer time is extremely valuable. The magazines that are donated, collected, and delivered to children and families are also extremely valuable. These are the key ingredients to a successful KinderHarvest operation. Very little funds are necessary to operate and to grow a local literacy drive. However, there will be supplies that are needed on a regular basis, such as labels and collection bins. So think of ways to raise the funds you will need for these things. Remember to report the source of all donated funds and in-kind gifts. We are required to account for all funds and other donations and we want to send out a thank you to any person or business that donates funds or in-kind services or products to support our MagazineLiteracy.org work.

First things first - find local literacy locations and volunteers to help

Thu, 02/07/2008 - 21:59 — Bee Keeper

As shown in the 5 steps to KinderHarvest success, it's best to have your community"infrastructure" in place before collecting magazines - so, basically, the volunteers who will pick-up, sort, label, and deliver the magazines, and the list of organizations that would like to receive them. Running a local magazine collection can be a massive undertaking, but will go very smoothly if you know where you will be bringing the magazine you collect and have lots of help. Be on the lookout for great team leads.

The organizations should give an indication of the population served and the categories of magazines they would or would not be interested in. We are working on a web application for volunteers and organizations to sign-up and note their interests, but for now, it's being handled offline, so please keep track of the details. As you can imagine, people love to donate their magazines and the collections will grow very large, very quickly. So, its very important to identify as many agencies helping as many people as possible to keep the magazines flowing into the hands of new readers.

Also, it's important to count each magazine donated and delivered (title and issue), to measure of our overall impact and for our regulatory and financial reporting.

Once you are ready to set up collections, the possibilities are endless. Places that people frequent, such as coffee shops and grocery stores, schools, libraries, and churches are ideal locations. Schools and churches can also provide a ready volunteer force. Many churches are already involved in regular food collections for food pantries and will have relationships already with many community support agencies. Our magazine collections are very similar. Schools engage children and families and are a very good source for children's magazines, which are always in short supply. Consider helping us to the Whole Foods and Starbucks locations in your community. We have had great luck in these locations. For example, you could organize that Starbucks "summer reading" promotion in June, but again, you'll want to have our volunteers and literacy organizations set up first to distribute receive the magazines. You can also collect a steady stream of magazines from doctors, dentists, hair salons, and restaurants that receive new magazines each month and are happy to provide them, but want to have regular pick-ups.

When you are ready to get started, I'd like to add you as an blogger there, so you can chronicle the steps you are taking. This will help others to follow in your footsteps in their own communities.

Remember, you are changing the world, one magazine at a time!

Five easy steps for starting and running a kinderHarvest magazine recycling project

Fri, 09/28/2007 - 06:48 — Bee Keeper

Once you have permission to run your KinderHarvest magazine recycling effort, and group of friends or colleagues to help you, there are five easy steps. We want you to write about your KinderHarvest drive in this blog so you can inform and inspire others, so be sure to let us know if you want to do that:

1. FIND LITERACY NEEDS
Reach out to places that will take the magazines (e.g. food pantries; homeless shelters; domestic violence shelters; early learning or after-school programs; job training programs; senior centers, etc.). You can tell them that we have wonderful programs just like this taking magazines in places like San Francisco, Trenton NJ, and Boston. You can read about those efforts in this blog. Let us know the name and address of the agencies that will be taking magazines.

2. SET UP A COLLECTION BIN
Either create a collection bin of your choosing or raise funds (about $35 to purchase, plus about $15 to ship one of our wooden harvest bins. Decorate the bin so that it's attractive, informative, and fun. Send us photos of your bin or post them in your blog here.

3. COLLECT THE MAGAZINES
Publicize the collection and bin locations to your colleagues. Encourage the donation of recent, gently used magazines. It's best if donors don't tear off their mailing label. If it's a paper label, it should be gently removed. If it's printed on the magazine, then they should cross out their name and address. A new gift label will be put on top of the old label, so it will be covered up.

4. SORT AND LABEL THE MAGAZINES
Sort the magazines by category and put a MagazineLiteracy.org gift label on each one. There is a template on our website for printing them. Send us a count of the number of magazines collected by category. Be in touch for our list of categories.

5. DELIVER THE MAGAZINES
Some locations will take any type of magazine. Others will prefer certain categories. Send us a count of the number of magazines delivered to each location by category.

Organize a KinderHarvest Magazine Collection Like a Food Drive

Sat, 04/28/2007 - 13:22 — Bee Keeper

[img_assist|nid=25|title=Collect Magazines to Feed Kids and Families Hungry to Read and Succeed|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=165|height=197]
Organizing a KinderHarvest magazine collection in your community is like a food drive, but you will be feeding children and families hungry to read and succeed. Here's how:

  1. Find a program in your community to receive the magazines you collect. This could be a food pantry, a homeless shelter, a domestic violence shelter, an early learning program like Headstart, or other after-school, reading, or literacy program. Find out how many people are served by the program, including their age, gender, and interests or needs in terms of the types of magazines. There are many online and community directories for these programs. Please be in touch if you need help finding programs to receive the magazines that you collect.
  2. Collect recent issues of gently used magazines. Think of collection [img_assist|nid=62|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=171|height=177]points that are convenient for your neighbors - places where people go on a regular and frequent basis, such as the public library, a book or magazine store, a school, church, bank, or supermarket. Ask permission to set up a KinderHarvest magazine literacy collection bin. Think about where else you could collect recent magazines. For example, perhaps a supermarket would allow a magazine drive, which is very similar to a food drive. Shoppers receive a small flyer on the way into the grocery store announcing the magazine drive and can drop newly purchased magazines in a bin or cart on the way out of the store. Consumers can be encouraged to come back to drop-off their recent issues of magazines from home.
  3. Remove labels from magazines, or use a black permanent marker to
    [img_assist|nid=26|title=Label a Child|desc=|link=url,http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=ideas#label|align=left|width=100|height=35]blot out names and addresses. Then, print and post our magazine gift label in the same spot where the old label was. This protects the magazine donor's privacy, while giving the magazine to someone as something they can call their very own.
  4. Deliver the magazines that you collect to the receiving program on a timely basis. Gather feedback from the program director so we can improve and grow the KinderHarvest program. Communicate what you are planning or what you have accomplished to the local media, so that others will learn about, support, and be inspired by your good work.
  5. Contact us to let us know if you would write about the planning, organization, and execution of your project in our MagazineLiteracy.org ideas blog. This will also help to inspire and guide others who would like to organize a successful KinderHarvest magazine collection in their own school or community.

    6. Here is what has worked for me: See if a nearby supermarket or pharmacy with a good magazine collection that includes children's magazines, or a bookstore or newsstand will let you do a magazine drive. Explain it's like a food drive where you'll give a small flyer to [img_assist|nid=29|title=Get magazines into the hands, homes, and hearts of children and families in food pantry grocery bags.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=140|height=147]each shopper on the way into the store and they will deposit the magazine purchase on the way out. You can ask the shoppers to focus on kids magazines for your students, but if they give others, those can always go home to the children's families. I am basing this magazine drive idea on having very successful food drives for over 20 years - always in the same way. It started one day when I went to a food pantry with empty shelves in 1986. I wondered, how could I fill those shelves quickly? So, I stood in front of a supermarket for a weekend and collected 2,000 pounds of food. I've kept them up ever since - once or twice a year. Basically, I ask a supermarket manager if I can do the drive (2 out of 3 say yes). Then I plan to spend the day at [img_assist|nid=28|title=25+ Carts of Groceries in a Single Day! Imagine how many magazines you can collect.|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=224|height=165]the store, or, if friends or colleagues are helping, we take two-hour shifts. The key is a smile and eye-to-eye contact with each shopper on the way in the store. A large number of people will purchase one or more items. I've collected as much as 25 full grocery carts in a single day. Often, shoppers express how much they want to help and how much they appreciate the convenience of the collection effort.

    For the flyer handout, I like a 4 per page format (folded from top to bottom and then left to right) for food drives because 500 copies turns into 2,000 flyers. However, for magazines, a "bookmark" shape might make more sense. That's a landscape sheet of paper folded twice from left to right. I like yellow paper because it stands out like a shopping list, but any bright color works fine. Feel free to copy any graphics off our website, such as the logo and the KinderHarvest recycling logo.

    [img_assist|nid=27|title=KinderHarvest - Read, Rescue, & Reuse Magazines for Literacy|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=479|height=357]

Tips for Starting a KinderHarvest Magazine Collection in your School

Sat, 04/28/2007 - 12:31 — Bee Keeper

There are two sides to a KinderHarvest magazine collection:
1. finding agencies that need the magazines.
2. the magazine collection itself.

Step 1: Identify the Literacy Need
A good match is collecting magazines for a nearby food pantry or homeless shelter. It's best to know where the magazines will go first, as well as how many children and adults receive services (e.g. the number of families that get a bag of groceries from a food pantry, or beds used at a shelter each week; also, the approximate number of children and adults served, and the general demographics, such as gender counts). This will allow you to set goals for the magazine drive and to target the drive to meet specific needs. If you can identify one or more agencies that will use the magazines, that would be great. If needed, we can help with that.

Step 2: Collect Magazines
Your students could then bring in "gently used," recent issues of magazines - this way, the children and families will receive current magazines to read and enjoy. Your class could also be the HQ for a magazine collection throughout the school. As part of the project, perhaps students could craft a note or artwork to include with each magazine. This could be a one time event or repeated as time allows.

Why Gently Used?
One of the essential tenets of our magazine literacy program is for children and families, who cannot otherwise obtain their own magazines, to enjoy the same experience as others when their subscriptions arrive in the mail with their name on the address label - that feeling we get when we open our own mailboxes, when the only thing that matters is finding the next issue of our favorite magazine.

Step 3: Label the Magazines
The at-risk children and families we serve have few possessions, and [img_assist|nid=26|title=Label a Child|desc=|link=url,http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=ideas#label|align=left|width=100|height=35]in the places we reach them - in homeless and domestic violence shelters, they usually arrive with no possessions. So affixing a label to their magazine gift instills a sense of ownership, pride, and self-esteem - the label makes it something they can call their own - "my own magazine." The magazine is very important, but it's their name on the label that makes the magazine their property. So that tiny label creates tremendous value. We have label templates you can use on our website.

Step 4: Count and Deliver your Magazines
Collecting magazine puts smiles on the faces of donors and volunteers. The greatest smiles will be on the faces of teachers and other literacy agents and the children and families who receive them. Keep track and report how many magazines you collect and distribute for our national tally.

We can set you up with a blog here to tell your story and to post photes so others can learn from your experience. Or, send us information and photos, which we will post on our web site as an example for others. Be sure to follow your school's policies for photo release.

Here are links to more information about KinderHarvest:
http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=kinderharvest
http://magazineliteracy.org/blog/?cat=16

[img_assist|nid=22|title=KinderHarvest - Read, Rescue, & Reuse Magazines for Literacy|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=479|height=357]

Steps for organizing your magazines - Sort, Label, Pack, Deliver to New Readers!

Fri, 10/03/2008 - 20:50 — Bee Keeper

Here's a diagram you can share with a group of volunteers helping to sort and package your recycled magazines for delivery to new readers.

Why it's important to remove mailing labels from magazines without tearing the magazine cover.

Thu, 04/24/2008 - 19:56 — Bee Keeper

Our preference is to deliver magazines with their covers intact, so we'd rather not tear the cover to remove mailing labels. It's a more dignified experience for the new readers to receive the whole magazine. However, we need to protect the privacy of donors, so we remove old paper labels or black out ink mailing labels with a permanent marker. Then we apply a new literacy "gift" label to cover the area where the old one was. The new label also helps to instill a sense of magazine ownership to the new reader that helps to reinforce their self-esteem. There is label template on our web site here:

http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=ideas#label

MagazineLiteracy.org Volunteer Teams Make the Difference

Thu, 04/10/2008 - 09:48 — Bee Keeper

We have spent some time learning about what steps are important in order to deploy successful, sustained magazine recycling projects at the community level.

The top-most lesson is that we need to form self-reliant local teams to set-up and operate KinderHarvest magazine recycling efforts in their own communities. The members of the teams work together on a number of mission-critical tasks, such as:

  • recruiting others to help
  • selecting team leads
  • finding shelters and literacy programs that would like to receive recycled magazines for their children and families
  • placing magazine collection bins and organizing other magazine collection drives
  • picking up magazines
  • meeting at least once a month to sort, count, label and bundle magazines for delivery
  • delivering the magazines to shelters and other literacy programs
  • promoting their recycling project in our blog and local media
  • fundraising to cover the expense of local supplies, such as labels and collection bins.

If this matches your interests, please complete this volunteer form to provide your contact and availability information. For more information, read our Magazine Literacy Bee blog written by our volunteers around the world.

We are grateful for your interest and time and look forward to working with you to change the world - one magazine at a time!

Visit us at the Princeton Whole Foods Green Fair

Tue, 04/08/2008 - 11:43 — John Mennell

Stop by to see us promoting our KinderHarvest magazine literacy recycling program at the Princeton Whole Foods Market this Saturday from noon to 4 PM. We'd love to see you there.

Whole Foods Market
(On Rt. 1 near Market Fair)
Saturday, April 12th
Noon - 4 PM
3495 Brunswick Pike
Princeton, NJ 08540
609.799.2919

Also, we are building our Central New Jersey KinderHarvest teams now, based on lessons learned over the past year. Be in touch if you want to be involved.

Join us to change the world... one magazine at a time!

Cheers!

Audio - Tonight, Ranger Rick keeps a boy who loves frogs company in a domestic violence shelter

Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:22 — Katie Simmons

Listen

...Oh my goodness, another just heartwarming, wonderful interaction... I just dropped off magazines at a women's shelter... they happened to be having dinner, and this little boy was talking to the woman I was giving magazines to and she was saying the women love the magazines and this is great...

And, this boy came up and I introduced myself and said, "Hey, how old are you?"... and he said, "I'm in the second grade, but I should be in the third grade."... and I said, "Do you like magazines?"... and he said, "I LOVE magazines!"... so I said, "Do you like nature?"... and he said, "I DO!"...and so I, of course, ran out to my Jeep, and gave him four Ranger Ricks, because he told me he loves frogs.

Oh my gosh! I almost started crying every time... just because, you know, I think... here he was as part of a family that was part of domestic violence, but yet now, he is just so happy when he sees the magazine and the woman even said to me, "Oh, I'm sure he is going to take them to bed tonight."... and he has a little brother, so he told me he was going to give his little brother a magazine too!

She'll love those Oprah magazines!

Wed, 03/05/2008 - 08:55 — John Mennell

I was emptying out our Whole Foods bin here in Princeton and a shopper came out of the store and started grabbing magazines for an elderly homebound friend, exclaiming "She'll love these Oprah magazines!" I never imagined such a direct benefit of our recycling so close to the core needs and hearts of consumers and new readers alike.

Gaining Support!

Sat, 10/20/2007 - 09:01 — Elizabeth Akright

I am getting more and more excited about the real involvement stages of holding this drive. I have been planning and trying to get volunteers, donors, and charities in line for a few weeks now and I am really hoping everything comes together.

When we were finally able to sort out our computer woes and send an email to the Pace publishing community, students, faculty, and even some companies responded. All want to get involved on some level. This is wonderful news!

As the publishing community, I believe we should be aware of and involved with issues of literacy because reading is our industry. For me, reading has been so much more than just a tool to get by, it is a real pleasure, and I want to share that joy with others. My love for language is what brought me to publishing, and that is shared among professionals in the field. We should step up and help individuals struggling with words to see the potenial for language and reading as a way to expand their minds and as a fun activity.

I have been setting up contacts with charities this week as well, and hope to have that finalized very soon. There are four prospective literacy programs that I would like to have participate, but at this point I am unsure if all of them will do so. I am planning to run our drive in the local community November 1-29, so we are getting ready to approach sites this coming week. My next challenge is to find and decorate boxes!

Best,
Elizabeth

Getting Started

Wed, 10/10/2007 - 08:27 — Elizabeth Akright

I know that when you organize a campaign such as this, you are bound to run into problems. My problem is my computer. I have the Vista operating system which is not compatible with many others. How is this relevant?

I sent off information about the magazine drive to the head of our department here at Pace last Friday to get the school officially involved. Nobody in the office was able to open the file I sent. I found this out when I emailed them to see if we would still be moving forward with the project. In effect, I have lost five valuable days of potential participation from my entire school department. It is still before the tentative dates that I would like to go full-force, but support from within would be a great help, and I will need some time to get volunteers signed up just to help with the orgainzational aspects, including scouting out sites, putting collection bins out, and getting the magazines ready to go.

I also spoke to one of my professors who works at Time, Inc. She will be looking into back issues and contact information for me, which could turn into a huge reserve of magazines. We shall see.

Take the good with the bad and always have a back-up plan!

Best,
Elizabeth

Welcome to the Pace Drive

Wed, 10/03/2007 - 23:25 — Elizabeth Akright

Hi! I have to admit that this is my first blog and I don't even know where to begin. I want it to be beneficial to many people and in many respects, so I guess I will just tell you a little about me and what I am trying to do in my community.

My name is Elizabeth, and I am a graduate student at Pace University in the MS Publishing program. When people ask me what this is, I explain it as a specialized business degree in the field of publishing. We learn about all aspects of business that make magazine and book companies successful, and now online content as well. (Blogs are actually a huge part of this!)

What I am aiming to do is host a KinderHarvest magazine drive for literacy in my area, which is New York City, and to do so very soon. At this point in time, it is just me. I have one other student in the program who plans to be involved. I won't mention this person yet, although I am very grateful to know that I have support waiting for me when I am ready to move forward. This will happen tomorrow, I believe.

I sat down and really gathered my thoughts tonight.

I think that what I did would help you if you want to start something like this in your area but are unsure of where to begin. I went to the KinderHarvest link on the Magazine Literacy website, magazineliteracy.org, where there is a helpful list of steps to start a drive. Then, I sat down and really applied these.

I researched programs in my area that would be good candidates to receive the magazines collected by the drive. One aspect that I love about this program is that the benefits stay local! I did not realize this until I sat down to pick out the charities our magazines would benefit. I tried to focus on programs that emphasize literacy promotion as part of their core philosophy; however, that is my personal choice.

Next, I thought of all the places where I would be likely to drop off extra magazines as potential collection sites because I frequent those places or because magazines are sold there. Supermarkets, bookstores, pharmacies, libraries, and local schools are givens. But what about Starbucks? Target? My campus bookstore? Doctors' and dentists' offices always have extra magazines. I could call them to see if volunteers could stop in and collect them.

I also had questions come to mind about this program that I felt are as of yet unanswered, but I was able to put a name to these questions, group them, write them out so that I know what answers I am seeking and whom to ask.

I will get more into that next time. I suppose this is a pretty good introduction of where things stand. I will say this. It is October 3rd. I hope to put this on the last two weeks of this month, and I believe that it will be organized and successful.

All the Best,
Elizabeth

KinderHarvest Kicks Off at Brighton Whole Foods near Boston

This is me and a wonderful young reader at our recent kick-off KinderHarvest at the local Whole Foods Market in Brighton on International Literacy Day, September 8th.

Visit to Trenton Shelter and Soup Kitchen

Wed, 09/19/2007 - 07:51 — John Mennell

It's best to know where the recycled magazines will be dropped off and to get an idea of the needs of your recipient agencies prior to organizing a KinderHarvest collection. That way, you know you can bring them to new readers and donors will be interested in knowing where their recycled magazines are going.

I called a few organizations in the Trenton area to ask if they would be interested in magazines from our KinderHarvest collections at Starbucks and Whole Foods. A couple said yes. Now I've visited the Homefront program that provides transitional services to homeless families and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) to meet with their directors and literacy staff. Each explained their programs and needs so that I can better organize the magazines that our KinderHarvest program delivers. There will be future planning meetings as well, and we will stay on the lookout for new shelters, food pantries, senior centers, and other programs.

It's good to serve a variety of agencies with different needs. Where one may want to target certain types of magazines to certain programs, others can use magazines of all kinds. This will help you to make sure that all your magazines are put to good use by new readers.

KinderHarvest Kicks Off at Princeton Whole Foods Market

We marked our third anniversary on International Literacy Day - September 8th with the kick-off of a KinderHarvest magazine recycling partnership at the Whole Foods Markets in West Windsor, New Jersey, near Princeton. The Whole Foods Market in Brighton, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts has also started their KinderHarvest drive, with more stores on the way.

The events where a huge success with lots of magazines collected from consumers that will be given to new readers in nearby homeless and domestic violence shelters, and in other local literacy programs. Here the magazines are going to HomeFront, the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), and other shelters and pantries.

The bins will remain in the stores so that shoppers can drop off their magazines year-round.

Things to consider when collecting magazines for your school library

Fri, 08/10/2007 - 06:58 — Bee Keeper

[img_assist|nid=65|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=125|height=165]One lesson that we have learned is that collecting a steady supply of recent issues of children's magazines in KinderHarvest bins can present a unique challenge. Here are some considerations and tips that should be helpful for getting started:

  1. Will you be coordinating the effort yourself or with a team, or will there first need to be an individual or group that can coordinate this on your behalf? It makes sense to put a team together representative of the teachers and parents in your school.
  2. Let us set up the point of contact for your KinderHarvest literacy drive in this Literacy Bee blog to record an account of the steps being taken to define and to meet your needs. That will chronicle the effort, create a repository of information that your school and community can tap into, and provide guidance and inspiration for others with similar needs in communities across the U.S.
  3. Define your needs specifically so they can be communicated to the community. For example, how many copies of which magazines would you like to have on the shelves of your school library? How many children are at each grade level, and at each reading-age level in your school, that would benefit from having their own copies of magazines? Are older issues of magazines useful, or would there be limitation to just more recent issues of magazines? The KinderHarvest effort would proceed to meet your goals. Of course the needs and goals could change over time, but you'll want an initial target.
  4. Next, you'll organize the magazine collections. You'll need volunteers for this and especially to pick-up and deliver the magazines to the school on a regular basis.
  5. In addition to KinderHarvest, consider finding business and other sponsors in the community who would fund sets of new magazines for your school library.

Tips for handling, labeling, and sorting magazines for delivery

Sun, 07/29/2007 - 23:15 — Bee Keeper

Here's a few tips and easy steps for labeling and sorting your magazines for delivery:

    [img_assist|nid=65|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=125|height=165]
  • If you have a large quantity of magazines, find a community meeting room in a school or library to label and sort your magazines.
  • Magazines are heavy, and moving them around is hard work. Keep the load light. Only lift what you can.
  • Be respectful of your meeting location and clean up when you're done.

Here some easy steps to get your magazines ready for delivery to children and families.

  1. Gather your supplies - magazines, of course, literacy gift labels, and permanent markers to blackout existing mailing labels...

    2. [img_assist|nid=81|title=|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=606]

  2. ... and paper grocery bags are handy to package magazines for delivery to shelters, food pantries, and other literacy programs.

    3. [img_assist|nid=82|title=|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=415]

  3. Carefully tear off paper labels and replace them with literacy gift labels. This protects the privacy of the magazine donor and gives the new reader a magazine they can call their own.

    4. [img_assist|nid=77|title=Remove the Old Labels|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=334]

    [img_assist|nid=78|title=Stick on New Literacy Gift Labels|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=334]

  4. If the existing mailing information is printed directly on the magazine, blackout the information and cover that with a literacy gift label.

    5. [img_assist|nid=79|title=Blackout Old Labels|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=334]

    [img_assist|nid=80|title=Stick on New Literacy Gift Labels|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=334]

  5. Sort your magazines by title, and type.

    6. [img_assist|nid=76|title=|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=208]

  6. Package the sorted magazines in grocery bags for easy delivery to agencies helping new readers.

    7. [img_assist|nid=75|title=|desc=|link=none|align=none|width=450|height=334]

Changing the world - one magazine at a time - A boy learns to read in a Boston homeless shelter

Mon, 07/09/2007 - 08:40 — Katie Simmons

This letter that I received from the staff at the Boston Family Shelter demonstrates the value of the KinderHarvest magazine recycling program. I am continuing my work to collect and deliver magazines to this program, as well as to a nearby Boys and Girls club and also to a program that has been helping the elderly for over 100 years.

Since Katie started dropping off magazines to our shelter the children really enjoy reading the magazines. When Katie stops by the shelter and drops off the magazines I put labels on them with the children's name on them to make the magazines personalized. Katie thank you, for the labels. All the children love the magazines. Even though some of the children have moved into housing, they still come back to the shelter to look for the magazines.

There is a 9-year-old third grade boy that resides at the Boston Family Shelter. He was in the shelter for about 2 years. He has been reading below grade level for the past 2 years. He is an excellent reader, he just cannot comprehend what he reads. The first day this boy received his magazine, he said, "Wow!! Cool!!" He began to start reading as soon as he picked the magazine. I was so surprised to see him reading, because he always told me how much he hates to read. About two days later, he told me how he would read his magazine at school during quiet time, and he would let his friends read the magazines also. He reads to his 3-year-old sister more often, and now he is comfortable reading out loud.

The magazines have given this child more confidence. Before the magazines, he would skip over words instead of sounding them out. Now, when he reads, he sounds out the words. Even though he is going to summer school, his reading grade level for the last term went from a D to a B+. That is a great improvement.
The boy’s mother is extremely happy to see he is finally starting to read. Sometimes it is still hard to get him to read a book. When he goes to the library he takes out magazines.

This new beginning is a absolutely amazing for this child. We hope he will continue to improve the next school year. We at the Boston Family Shelter would like to thank Katie and all organizations that donate magazines to our shelter.

Maria
Boston Family Shelter

Getting Started In Atlanta

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 16:40 — LoriMoody

I am focusing on the essentials now before planning an actual Magazine Drive.

**Naomi's Cottage, a shelter for abused women, in Atlanta, have agreed to become receipents of our magazines.
**A member of the Women's Federation of Atlanta, have agreed to help with pick up's through out the city, once we locate where the drives will be.
**Located free short term storage of magazines, before distribution.
**Have located several other volunteers willing to help pick up the collected magazines, on a routine basis, through out the city.

I am in the process of setting up meetings with various agencies to discuss how this program can enhance their objectives.
Once I have determined who will be receiving the magazines, I will then pursue company's and retailers to host drives.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Collecting magazines from libraries and babysitting clubs

Mon, 07/02/2007 - 08:15 — Katie Simmons

I just spoke with a gentleman who heads the town recycling efforts; recycling is mandatory. So we just had a long chat and I was asking him about different ideas for posting information about KinderHarvest, and he said my best bet is to talk to the director of the whole library system. So, I am going to be in touch with him early next week. He said they get rid of so much paper at the library - books and magazines - and he said that the director is very environmentally conscious. He said that he would also be happy to help me out with doing some kind of posting on their website so that everyone in the community could maybe see the KinderHarvest flyer, and perhaps we could say rather than put the magazines in your blue bin, bring them to a location that I could work out with this gentleman, and do it that way.

I was pretty excited because it's a huge and prosperous town; a lot of people have families, so I think that would be really good to spread the word that way.

Another quick thing... my friend just emailed me that she put up a posting at her babysitting co-op, and I think that reaches out to about 100 mothers. I ordered a copy of the generic KinderHarvest flyers so she could also post that at her other child’s babysitting website

So magazines coming from everywhere!

Princeton Dental Group brightens smiles with magazine donations

Wed, 06/13/2007 - 18:25 — John Mennell

The Princeton Dental Group has joined KinderHarvest and will recycle their magazines to support nearby community literacy programs in New Jersey. An important consideration for the office is that the magazines are picked up on a regular and timely basis. This is also best for the children and families who will be receiving that magazines, so they can enjoy reading current information.

Sunny Garden restaurant shines to bring good fortune to KinderHarvest

Wed, 06/13/2007 - 04:39 — John Mennell

Whenever you enter the beautifully appointed and comfortable lobby of the Sunny Garden Chinese Restaurant in Princeton your are always warmly welcomed. It's a favorite eatery with a menu well-known for fresh, delicious, and healthy dishes. You'll also find a wonderful portfolio of magazine available for your reading pleasure, including National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and People.

Sunny Garden has joined KinderHarvest to recycle its magazines for reading by children and families in local shelters and literacy programs.

The Drive Is On!

Sun, 05/27/2007 - 12:38 — Ron Buchanan

We in kindergarten are only halfway through our magazine drive, and I'm pleased to say that our box for collecting them is full! With two weeks gone since this all started here at Creative Arts Charter School and two weeks to go, it looks like we'll easily reach our target numbers. What a great feeling it gives us to be taking action, for the children and adults alike. Plus, the students in my class are broadening their understandings, getting a hands-on lesson in the issues of conservation and homelessness. The latter problem, especially, has touched many of the children. Although it would seem impossible not to notice such a thing in San Francisco, a five- or six-year-old growing up here can be quite insulated, and may not have actually given it much thought. A magazine drive like this not only opens young eyes to the plight going on right now outside in our neighborhoods, but shows them how crucial it is to care. In my view, what better education can we provide?

Our first submission to the weekly school newsletter:

Tue, 05/08/2007 - 01:29 — Ron Buchanan

Kindergarten is hosting a KinderHarvest Magazine Drive! We are collecting "gently used" copies of magazines for kids like "Highlights," "Ladybug," "Click," "Spider," "Your Big Backyard," etc. and donating them to local organizations that serve homeless youth and families. Please deliver your gently used kids magazines to Ron's kindergarten class by Friday, June 8th. Help us care for homeless children, promote literacy, and conserve paper--all at once! Thanks, Ron and the kindergartners.

Boston - Next Steps

Fri, 05/04/2007 - 04:07 — Katie Simmons

I have set up a meeting with Shelter, Inc. in Boston to see if donated magazines would be helpful and to determine what their needs are.

I have also begun reaching out to locations that will donate magazines, including a dentist office where, in addition to collecting the magazines they are ready to discard, staff are willing to bring in magazines, such as Highlights from home.

I volunteer with a Boys and Girls club where there seems to be a very keen interest by the children in having their own magazines. The staff thought it was a great idea to bring magazines for the children to read.

Finding agencies and planning the drive

Sun, 04/29/2007 - 21:04 — Ron Buchanan

Dear interested readers,
We have contacted several local organizations with the hopes of finding recipients for the magazines our kindergarten class collects during our upcoming school drive. So far we are concentrating our efforts on those agencies that serve homeless kids and families. In contacting these places, we've discovered some important decisions we've had to make about our drive, such as exactly what age group we hope to serve, and how important the actual magazine content is. We hope to speak further with each organization soon to put a plan into action. On the other end, we are in the planning stages for our school magazine drive--how and where to advertise, and to what extent the kindergartners can be involved in the process--the creation of posters and flyers, delivering announcements at school assemblies, receiving and organizing donations, pasting labels, inserting thoughtful messages into delivered magazines, etc. etc. What an incredible opportunity my students have!

Boston KinderHarvest Gets Underway

Sun, 04/29/2007 - 04:25 — Katie Simmons

As a volunteer with a 3 year program for 6,7,8 grade inner city youth with focus on literacy, life skills and tennis here in Boston, as well as helping out at a local elementary school and boys and girls club, I see the need for getting interesting reading materials to children every day. I also want to focus on helping shelters and food banks because that seems to be a very dire need.

Here are some of my initial ideas and efforts:

  • I have a preschool teacher friend who agreed to have a collection bin for magazines. Many of the parents have older children so I am hoping they have subscriptions to donate.
  • I have another friend who is an elementary school Principal who will share Highlights magazines.
  • I have made contac t with the children's room at the local library, which agreed to share their older copies of magazines with children. I picked up Ladybug, Babybug, Cricket and Cobbletone.
  • I have a contact at a nearby hospital that receives monthly mags that they will donate when they are ready to discard them.
  • I will also asked a friend who is part of a babysitting co-op to reach out to a huge audience via email to ask if they would donate magazines.
  • I will also check with the local supermarket and pharmacy to see if I can set up a magazine drive.

    • I have contacted several pediatric dentists office in the area and my own dentist have been quite generous in offering to donate their Parents and children's magazines from their waiting room and even the staff offered to send their gently used children's magazines.

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