Building Community One Book at a Time

This year’s Used Book Sale proved to be a resounding success. In addition to raising more than $3,000 for the Kovler Family Library, this year’s event provided more than 450 books for Parker’s classrooms, more than 300 free titles for Parker students and a whopping 6,500 unsold books donated to community partners around the city. Many thanks to all of the volunteers and customers who helped make this year’s event so successful—as your efforts helped make a difference at Parker as well as Onahan School.

When a fire incident decimated the classroom libraries at Onahan School earlier this year, Educational Technology Integration Specialist Sarah Beebe’s heart hung heavy. As a former Chicago Public Schools teacher, Beebe knew most Chicago Public Schools do not have libraries, including Onahan, so classroom teachers take on the responsibility of curating their own classroom libraries.

Beebe could only imagine how devastating this loss would be for teachers and students at the school, so she reached out to the Parker community with a simple request for help—and the response was overwhelming!

Based on a single email, Parker employees were quick to help fellow educators and students in need—donating hundreds of books to the cause. In addition, the school contributed 14 boxes of unsold children’s books from our recent Used Book Sale to the cause.

Beebe worked with fellow Educational Technology Integration Specialist Mary Catherine Coleman to sort donations by grade level and box them up for their new classrooms, and Beebe loaded all the boxes into her van and delivered them to Onahan School personally.

Thanks to all who helped make a difference with books this year!