Newer Bookmobile for Lending Library with Love

Where there is a passion and an opportunity- dreams are realized. For the last several years, a group of teachers from Malvern, PA dreamt of creating a book mobile for students and families in our community. We wanted to promote and foster the love of reading outside our classrooms. We know:

Children will read more if they have access to a constant supply of fresh book choices

Children need diverse, quality books

Children need to self-select books by seeing, holding, and touching them

Children need adult encouragement to try reading new books, series, or authors

Families are busy, and sometimes bringing the books to the kids makes life easier for all

In the spring of 2020, when Covid-19 forced the community libraries to close, we realized it was time to act on our dream. Therefore, a passion project of creating the “Lending Library with Love '' was realized. We started fundraising with the help of Scholastic Books and their Classroom Counts campaign. We also gathered books from parents, friends, and the Malvern community. We managed to collect and purchase more than 2,000 books. It quickly became apparent that this collection would not fit in the back of our minivans and SUVs. We pooled our money and purchased a trailer, shelving, bins, labels, and a banner.

Our bookmobile made its inaugural trip on July 9th, 2020, and started sharing books with children across the Malvern area. Our mobile library travels to area neighborhoods, where children can choose books to take home and read. This service is free to all families. Our following grew after just a few weeks, and even more people started borrowing books. The bookmobile currently services nine area neighborhoods. We hope to continue to make books available to all by supplementing the local libraries and schools.

In 2023, we have made more than 450 stops and served more than 2,500 kids to date. We are beginning to fundraise for a newer bookmobile or trailer. Ideally, we would love to get a bus to convert into a driveable bookmobile. Please consider helping us make this new dream a reality soon. Our current trailer has some structural issues, and we live on borrowed time. So we need to plan for the future to ensure continuity of our outings and service to the Malvern and surrounding areas.

We are an entirely self-funded 501(c)(3) charity without school, district, or library support. All funds donated are used to cover expenses to run the bookmobile, such as purchasing new books, insurance, and maintenance costs of the trailer.

You can follow up on FB and Instagram @Lendinglibrarywithlove for the weekly schedule.

You can also follow us on Twitter @LuvBookmobile.

Want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money to benefit Lending Library With Love; any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for contributing to this cause, which means so much to all of us.