target school library makeovers: what they are and why you should care

 

 

Maybe you’ve heard or maybe you haven’t, but Target is big on giving back to the community.

So big they’re on track to give $1 billion to education by 2015.

I’d say that’s pretty big.

And as a parent and teacher and wife of a school administrator and mother of three children who attend public school, I think it’s pretty cool that Target gives back to the community this way.  And honestly? I think more people should know about it.

Here’s the skinny. . .

• Target School Library Makeovers–What They Are And Why You Should Care:  Though I was able to attend a Give With Target event last spring in Baltimore and actually chat with Good Luck, Charlie star Bridgit Mendler, I had not attended a school library makeover.

So this week I did. And it was crazy. Electric. Exciting. Emotional.

Amazing.

Really, really cool, for so many reasons.

Here’s a quick vlog of my Target School Library Makeover & Meals for Minds Experience:

Did you know that:

• Target started the school library makeover program in 2007?
• since 2007, Target has renovated more than 150 school libraries?
• Target donated more than 1.3 million books to schools and students?
• more than 75,000 students have been impacted through this program but that by the end of 2013, more than 93,000 students will be impacted??

• Target team members have donated more than 107,000 hours to renovate libraries across the country?
• Target partners with local food banks for Meals for Minds and that every school eligible for a library makeover have the option of receiving a Target Meals for Minds food pantry?
• Meals for Minds gives each student and his or her family more than 22 lbs of food on a monthly basis, with 25% of the the total pounds of food to be fresh produce?

• students are also given books to take home as part of this program so they can build their own at-home libraries?
• Target gives back 5% of its profit to communities, which today equals about 4 million dollars a week?

Want more information? Check out Target’s Corporate Responsibility for Education-related giving and more information.

Take a look at all of the photos from my close-up of a Target School Library Makeover in Baltimore, Maryland:

 ———————————————————

 ———————————————————

Want to know which books each child from this school will be taking home?

I did–and you can print the list (Target School Library Makeover Take-Home Book List) or check it out below:

Pre-K

• Bedtime for Little Bears/Love you Sleepyhead
• Clifford Firehouse Dog
• David McPhail’s A to Z
• How Kids Grow
• One Rainy Day
• The Snowy Day

Kindergarten

• Daddy Longlegs Blue
• Harry’s House
• Low Down Bad Day Blues
• MISS BINDERGARTEN CELEBRATES THE 100TH DAY OF KINDERGARTEN
• Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere
• Pizza Party
• Scholastic Reader Level 1-I Spy a School Bus

1st

• Book! Book! Book!
• Farm Animals
• It Takes A Village
• JUNIE B., FIRST GRADER (AT LAST!)
• MOUSE SOUP
• ROBIN HILL SCHOOL: ELECTION DAY
• The Blind Man and the Elephant (LVL 3)

2nd

• Barack
• Amazing Sharks
• CAM JANSEN & THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL MYSTERY
• Flossie and the Fox
• Grace for President
• HI! Fly Guy
• Ish

3rd

• Children’s Dictionary
• A TO Z MYSTERIES #10: JAGUAR’S JEWEL, THE
• Amazing Pet Records
• Donovan’s Word Jar
• JUDY MOODY DECLARES INDEPENDENCE
• Longshot
• Number One Kid

4th

• Children’s Thesaurus
• Fourth-Grade Fuss
• The Jacket
• National Geographic: Amazing Animal Journeys
• The Spray-Paint Mystery
• Stone Fox
• Who Cracked the Liberty Bell?

5th

• Webster’s Thesaurus for Students
• Call It Courage
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
• Junebug
• Lawn Boy
• Loser

6th

• Rage of Fire
• Circle of Gold
• The Circuit
• Eleven
• Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule
• The Island of the Blue Dolphins
• SOUNDER

7th

• Trouble with Mark Hopper
• Bud, Not Buddy
• Crash
• How Do you Spell Geek?
• Pictures of Hollis Woods*
• Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
• White Fang

8th

• Wave Walkers: Pirate War
• All of the Above
• Harlem Summer
• Raven Hill Mysteries: Dead End
• Seed Folks*
• Stay Strong
• Tracker*

Sibling Books

• Goodnight Moon

PreK

• I Love You Big As the World
• Clifford Firehouse Dog
• David McPhail’s A to Z
• How Kids Grow
• One Rainy Day
• The Snowy Day
• BIG RED READER: CLIFFORD’S BEST SCHOOL DAY
• Harry’s House
• Low Down Bad Day Blues

Want to check these books out? Do it!

Or print the list and check them out another time: (Target School Library Makeover Take-Home Book List)

As one of the Target Inner Circle members, I’ve been privy to some serious behind-the-scenes with this company, and though I’ve learned a ton, I tend to share only the stuff that I think my readers—primarily parents and teachers of school-aged children—would care about.

Here’s to hoping everyone finds this Target school library makeover and the programs Target gives back to the community as worthwhile as I.  Spreading the word about these community-based programs can help support and grow them, knowing that 5% of Target’s income will go back to these programs.  Or consider recommending schools you think would benefit from the services. It’s worth it.

fyi: affiliate links are used in this post