Free Book Bus

Many families would like to own more books, but they don’t always have a working vehicle or access to a library or bookmobile stop. The Free Book Bus hopes to fill in these gaps in access and affordability by bringing books to people in places they already frequent, such as public events, community centers, food pantries, and schools.

Free Book Bus guests range from infants to senior citizens, including many individuals living under the poverty level, refugees, and those who are experiencing homelessness. Our goals for long-term impact are to improve literacy and encourage a love of reading in those we welcome onto the bus. Helping people build home libraries can have a huge effect on those families who do not have easy access to books.

We focus on low-income, minority, and rural children and young adults (ages 0-20) in Charlottesville and Albemarle and Nelson counties. Many of the children who visit the bus speak English as a second language. We work to connect with both these children and their families by providing books in their native language. The Free Book Bus tailors the selection of books for every stop. Places we have given books away include: schools. food pantries, ESOL classes, local adult and family shelters, and Boys & Girls Clubs. It is delightful to see the enthusiasm and wonder of Free Book Bus guests of all ages as they visit the bus and and understand that they can choose their own books, that they can keep the books, and that there is no charge.

2020 presented a set of unique challenges for The Free Book Bus. As the pandemic got more serious in March, I started to wonder if I was going to have to park the bus indefinitely. That was a depressing possibility, but I knew I couldn’t continue inviting kids onto the bus. For most of April and May, I took boxes of individually bagged books to schools and food pantries. However, bagging individual books ended up being inefficient, and I was using a large quantity of plastic bags.

In May of 2020, I began to think about how I could get back out into the community in a safe way, especially to reach kids who were attending school virtually. I spent a lot of time researching ways to slide books out of the bus from a distance. One afternoon, I realized that the 10’ long slide on our old jungle gym might work as a book ramp. I hauled it up our hill, pressure-washed it, and attached a foam “landing pad” for books. The book slide officially went into action on June 12th, 2020. It has been a huge success with little kids, teenagers, and adults!

Since our first book drop-off during the pandemic (16 books to the women staying at PACEM’s shelter at The Haven on March 19th), to the present, we have given out more than 7,500 books and served over 2,800 people. We are so pleased to have found ways to continue serving the community during COVID-19.

We are building a network of diverse volunteers by connecting with local scout troop, UVA students, and community members who are interested in our mission. During spring semester 2021, a group of University of Virginia students from a consulting group affiliated with 180 Degrees Consulting crafted a strategic plan for us. The Free Book Bus added two board members in 2020, one of whom is helping Sharon research grant opportunities. The bus is in great mechanical shape, and we look forward to increasing our stops and areas of coverage in 2021 and 2022.

A brief history of The Free Book Bus:

November 3rd, 2018: After launching the website/Facebook in October, had the first book giveaway (with a table of books) at the food pantry at Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Batesville
November 27th, 2018: received our 501(c)(3) determination letter
December 15th, 2018: Nelson County Pantry - at our first event with the Bus, we gave away 461 books to families and children of all ages.
May 4th, 2019: First large public event at Ix Park - people lined up to get on the Bus for almost four hours and we gave out 530 books
September 7th, 2019 - after an event at Sunrise Community Park in Charlottesville, we reached a milestone of 5,001 books given out!
December 11th, 2019 - first stop at PACEM shelter for men at Portico Church. This was an experiment, but very well-received. We continue to visit both the men and women at various PACEM shelters.
April 17th, 2020: we reached a milestone of 10,000 books given away
November 2020: we celebrated our two-year anniversary
January 30th, 2020 - gave out 894 books to all 431 students at Tye River Elementary, and hit a new record for books
given out in one day!
March 2020-present - we figured out how to operate safely during the pandemic, and continued to visit schools, homeless shelters, food pantries, and clubs to give away books.

Moving forward, we hope to expand our reach into surrounding areas, continue to establish regular stops, and engage more with refugee populations.