Baltimore Rock 'n Read 2016

This was a free book distribution event we ran at the request of Governor Hogan's Office and with the assistance of Baltimore City Council in the summer of 2016.

posted by | 7sc
January 08, 2018

Westfield Wheaton Free Book Distribution - Winter 2017

Westfield Wheaton continues to be a champion for the community by distributing free books provided by Velocity of Books.

Author, Dr. Tomi reads to kids at Westfield Wheaton

posted by | 7sc
January 07, 2018

Gift Ideas for Homeless People

Chase Partnership House Rockville, Maryland

Pictured is a Chase Partnership House staff member holding a gift set.

Getty Images donated more than 200 photo book collections to Velocity of Books. Velocity of Books delivered many of those books to the Chase Partnership House, along with wrapping paper and tape. Residents will have the books and materials available to give as gifts to others.

We brought enough copies, so that they will be able to keep one for their own on-site library. The same library that Velocity of Books refreshed in 2016.

posted by | 27sc
December 20, 2017

Free Books at WIC Program Wheaton Maryland

Velocity of Books now provides books for the community at the WIC office in

Wheaton, Maryland

Jack and Julian Thompson, Co-founders of Velocity of Books delivered the first load of books to WIC Wheaton today.

As they were visiting Westfield Wheaton to provide them with hundreds of free books to be be given out to the mall guests over the holidays, Jack and Julian stumbled upon the WIC office in the same building as Westfield management. They offered the WIC office lovely, age appropriate books for their young guests.

It was a joyous occasion knowing that some of the poorest people in our community have access to free books to read to their children. Together, we can shift the tides, empower others and have an impact on poverty.

posted by | 27sc
December 14, 2017

1-800-GOT-JUNK? Washington DC To The Rescue

Books Saved from Going to The Dump by 1-800-Got-Junk?

Call them today: | 1-800-468-5865

We applaud the actions of business owners who step up to make a difference.

Special thanks to Claudine Rubin, Franchise Owner and

Wave Banks, Manager

For months, 1-800-Got-Junk had been providing our non-profit organization, Velocity of Books with book donations from individuals purging books.

This past Monday 1-800-Got-Junk came to our rescue!
Velocity of Books needed remainder books picked up after a book sale, and driven to a sorting facility an hour away. We emailed them just after 6:00am on a Monday morning and by 8:19am, we were told that they were going to be able to pick up the books and that they weren't going to charge us.

This was an especially big favor. The library which was donating the books needed the books picked up, as they had events planned in the same space where the books were. We had to get the books out by late afternoon.

If the books were not pulled out, this would have hurt the libraries reputation with the community and Velocity of Books reputation with a major donors and all those connected with this donor.

1-800-Got-Junk is our go to company!

posted by | 27sc
December 08, 2017

Holiday Fun at Westfield Wheaton!

Looking for a fun, free and memorable event for the family?

Join us for story time with bestselling author, Doctor Tomi who will join the fun and share his newest books.

Enjoy treats, sweets and a special appearance by Santa!

Date: December 16th

Time: 11am -1pm

Location: Westfields Wheaton 11160 Veirs Mill Rd, Wheaton, MD 20902

Playscape (Lower Lever Near DSW)

Free treats! Free books provided by Velocity of Books.

Book Links:

The Three Noble Sheep: http://amzn.to/2AZHqj4

The Purple Dancing Tiger: http://amzn.to/2hJoY9P

The ABC Exercise: http://amzn.to/2hKdbbm

posted by | 27sc
December 01, 2017

Westfield Wheaton free book event

Thank you to everyone who came together to distribute free books and support our community.

We gave way a total of 21,800 books*. 8,300 books were given away to Westfield Wheaton guests, and the 13,500 remainders were given to Dreamfield International School Ghana Africa.

Our target number was 20,000 books distributed. We were originally advertising that we would give away 22,000 books, but thought that if we said 20,000, that this number would still serve the community; be impressive enough to get people out to the event, while being a bit more manageable.

We ran into several obstacles, which presented us with new opportunities while planning for the event.

A couple of the many challenges are stated below:

1). MCPS School Board wanted to join us in the book distribution event

- MCPS Administrators told us at a later date that they didn't want to participate and that we had to pay to advertise the event with MCPS

2). The event was originally going to be at MCPS Fairgrounds, but when Discover Communications volunteer liasan said that they were looking for a day of service event, we proceeded with pitching Westfield Wheaton on hosting the event, so it would be convenient to Discover Communications.

- There was nominal book sorting in advance of the event and in doing so, it would have been unnecessary work for volunteers and Velocity of Books.

3). Westfield Wheaton graciously donated 1,500 square feet of space. Both the location and the space was impressively convenient. The space had three bay doors, which would make it easy to receive deliveries of pallets, to be sorted. We certainly don't blame Westfield. They need to focus on leasing their space.

- Then the space was rented out and we had to vacate. This left us with no public space to sort books. Volunteers still wanted to come sort regardless if it was at a private residence. So a few pallets of books were delivered directly to our home.

- The owner of the business (an auto detailing shop) who took our space, said that he may consider permitting us to use his space for book collection and distribution.

4). There was uncertainty as to where we could distribute the books at the mall. There is not a large open space, because there are many kiosks. We were assigned a hallway which appeared to be less traveled.

- The hallway was near the kids play area. Many people with young children were able to find us. It is our hope that we will be able to place our permanent book swap station in this area.
-

- Since we didn't have a location to sort, or stage the books the books, we had three pallets of books brought into the mall to fill the shelves. From there, we pulled the books directly out of the Gaylord boxes, which were conveniently stored in a loading area close to the entrance. With fast thinking, we were able load the books from the huge Gaylord boxes to the Costco shopping cards. From there, we rolled the shopping cards directly to the bookshelves which needed to be filled.

- Mall guests who saw us with the carts of books realized that they could use the carts to get books from the shelves and to their cars. This was a magnificent outcome of being on the lower level below Costco.

5). Dr. Tomi (kids book author) was unable to get people to settle down and listen to his book.

- In the future, we are going to have him man the temporary book swap stations, which will be smaller and be a great venue for him to attract an audience.

It was through the financial assistance of Kiwanis and Westfield that we were able to afford the balloons, helium, printing, face painters, fuel, and all of the materials that went into the event.

Not only was the day a massive success, but I believe we showed Westfield that we are flexible and under various changes, we strove hard and were able to bring about amazing results.

It is our sincere hope that they will elect to permit us to establish a permanent book swap station after they see the success of a temporary book swap station.

We hope that our efforts at this event will encourage other malls to host similar events.

* Previously we were assuming 1,600 books per Gaylord. However the books we've been receiving have a higher concentration of kids books, which take up less room. (We went from 30% adult books to less than 5%)

posted by | 1sc
June 26, 2017

FREE BOOK GIVE-AWAY EVENT JUNE 17, 2017 WESTFIELD WHEATON (Wheaton Mall)

EVENT TODAY AT: Wheaton Mall 11160 Veirs Mill Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20902

Near DICK's Sporting Goods/ Jo-Ann Fabric Entrance

- Event is not at our office in Rockville!

posted by | 27sc
June 17, 2017

Midas Wheaton Promotes Literacy

Midas Manager, Jerry Germain has shown he is an advocate for literacy.

For more than three years, Midas in Wheaton has hosted a book swap station, so that the community can come and get both kids and adult books for free.

Now, Midas has added a Discover Books, book collection bin. Residents can place their unwanted books in the bin. The books are picked up by Discover Books and sorted. While many of the books are sold, thousands of books are given back to the community. When you order books by the pallet from Velocity of Books, they are likely to come directly from the Discover Books warehouse.

As a result of community partners such as Midas in Wheaton, Discover Books is able to provide the books to Velocity of Books to distribute at events. The next event is at Westfield Wheaton on June 17th from noon-3:00pm.

We never could have provided the community with so many free books if it weren't for the help of organizations like Midas hosting book collection bins. To find out how you may be able to help, like your local Midas, contact: Alexandra Popoli [email protected] at Discover Books.

posted by | 1sc
June 13, 2017

Baseball Heroes

Be one of the first 125 people to donate books at our event at Westfield Wheaton this Saturday from noon-3:00pm and will will provide you with a free baseball ticket.

We thank both Big Train and Thunderbolts for helping us promote literacy in our community.

posted by | 1sc
June 12, 2017

EVENT TODAY AT: Wheaton Mall 11160 Veirs Mill Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20902

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