Not all families have the resources to give their children gifts during the holidays. The Kent State Bookstore is working to fill that gap with customer book donations.
Between now and the end of finals week, customers can participate in a “Giving Tree.” Nikki Dech, the assistant store manager who runs the program, said it’s been running since 2012.
After reaching out to Portage Area Transitional Housing, Dech said she received a list of anonymous children, their gender, age and one of their areas of interest. She then matched them to a book which she wrote on an ornament hanging on the tree.
Customers can then pick an ornament from the “Giving Tree,” buy the book and the bookstore donates them the week after finals, so that guardians can wrap and give them to their kids during the holidays.
“We have always sold through them in the holiday season,” Dech said. “The university is pretty supportive of the program that we’ve been doing.”
Dech said she feels books are the best gift because they serve multiple purposes.
“It’s not just something that you can give to the child, it’s something you can share with the child in the sense that you encourage people to read together,” she said. “As important as reading is to a child’s development, it also encourages the guardian or parent or sibling to read with the child.”
Eileen Mohr, a Kent State alum and participant in the “Giving Tree” for a decade, said she has always loved reading. As a kid, she said her mom would take her to the library at least once a week, and she would check out tons of books.
“The way books can open your eyes and fuel your imagination and just be so life-giving; I wanted to be able to be part of a group that wanted to give kids the gift of reading,” Mohr said. “If I couldn’t read, I don’t know what I would do.”
Mohr enjoys serving a population that she feels is not usually served during the holiday season.
She said donating means the world to her, and she gives props to Dech, who she said always carefully and thoughtfully picks out books for the kids.
“I think it’s challenging enough to navigate reading in transitional housing,” Dech said. “To be able to have something that you can give your child that you didn’t have to necessarily provide means a lot. Being able to give their child something for Christmas is important.”
Lauren Cohen is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected]
