Episode #62: How to help Non-profits right now- PART TWO
Hello! Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Book Friends Forever podcast! As usual, Grace and Alvina catch up on each other’s lives, talk about what’s on their minds, and express what they’re grateful for each week.
On Monday, May 18th, the Book Friends Forever will be doing a LIVE BROADCAST of this podcast on the Asian Author Alliance YouTube channel! This is in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and we will be one of many panels and live streams that the alliance will be featuring. We are not sure what we are going to talk about, so if you have any suggestions, please let us know. The podcast will air at 7:00pm EST and 4:00pm PST.
Alison Morris from First Book joined the podcast last week to talk about the non-profit during pandemic times. It was a great but a rather long interview. Therefore, the podcast was split into two parts. You can listen to Part One from last week here, and welcome to Part Two today!
First, a Book Friends Forever podcast special announcement!: As promised, once the book friends reached either 50 reviews or 100 ratings on Apple Podcasts (whichever came first), they were going to hold a drawing and the winner would get to choose from two things: Being a guest on the podcast, OR getting a phone call. Thank you to all who rated and reviewed!!! They reached the 100 ratings mark!
And the winner is…
Username: DIYLINIEMI Here is the comment this admirer left for Grace and Alvina:
I enjoy getting the inside scoop in to the publishing world and author/illustrator perspectives. I am an elementary school librarian and have picked up lots of info about publishing and writing. I also feel like these two friends have become my book friends too. They are easy to listen to and seem like they have a great friendship. I look forward to them. They usually run around 30 mins so it’s an nice amount of time while doing chores or cooking.
If you recognize yourself, CONGRATULATIONS and please claim your prize! You can contact the book friends here or on social media. Let them know which prize you prefer!
“How have you been?”
“Quaranfine” (Alvina’s friend came up with this new one-word way to reply to this question!)
Alvina has been really busy editing and completing another puzzle! Just when she thought it would tough after a two-day staycation to head into a full week, her CEO told the employees they could have May 1st off and they they could start their “Half-day Fridays” already. (They don’t begin until Memorial Day typically). She’s really grateful for the way that her company has been communicating and taking care of its employees during the pandemic.
Grace also has been “pandemic fine” lately. She was busy trying to make her daughter’s birthday really special. They had a zoom call with her classmates and they made cupcakes for her friends to come and pick up if they could. She also let her daughter watch “Angry Birds” movies for the first time!
Welcome back Alison!
It’s now time to pick back up from PART ONE of two episodes talking with friend of the book friends, Alison Morris. Alison is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal.
Question for Alison: What are some ways an author can help donate to non-profits and First Book if they’re struggling financially themselves? (Giving in non- monetary ways).
Spreading the word helps! Telling teachers about First Book, talk about it on social media, with other educators, etc….
Crowdsourcing platforms, Facebook fundraisers, promoting First Book at the end of online author readings and events. ( You don’t need to contact anyone at First Book to do this. )
Go to Firstbook.org or firstbookmarketplace.org
Grace asks, “My daughter goes to a Title 1 school. They’re providing food for those in need, how do I hook the school up to get books out too?
Anyone can register with First Book individually. All you have to do us register and then you can explore the book bank and they will ship to any address.
Find out what First Book is doing during the pandemic, maps of the areas of greatest need, and more ways to help by going here:
https://firstbook.org/coronavirus/
As Book Friends Forever listeners know, Alison Morris does a 2-minute book review after each episode. She shares how each book is picked out. For starters, she begins with the BFF’s episode topic and then goes from there. She tries to pick something that is new and that maybe no one has heard of yet. She often goes with what speaks to her and is most meaningful at the time. Alison also does book review for Grace Lin’s other podcast, called Kids Ask Authors where the book reviews are geared more towards children who are listening. BFF’s podcast book reviews are geared more towards the adult listener.
Alvina notes Alison’s passion that comes through her reviews. If you have feedback for Alison on her book reviews, (for example, does she go into too much detail or too little about books?) please let her know! She would love to hear any kind of feedback.
“What are you grateful for?”
Alison is grateful for “a job that I really feel makes a deeply meaningful difference in the world.” She is grateful to do a job every day that “enables me to support underserved communities but especially right now”. “
I”m grateful that I have a job period.”
Grace is grateful for her daughter’s website quackaducks.com! Thes are little sculptures of ducks that she made and all the money goes to their schools’s emergency fund to buy groceries for families in need. “That’s our homeschool project!” Please check it out!
Alvina is so grateful for her twice a week ZOOM dance parties with a new community of friends. She started out only knowing one person and know it has grown. It is the highlight of her weeks! https://www.cosyne.co/dance
