Share the solace of a good book.
Inspire friends and neighbors to put their dusty bookshelves to work! Collect paperbacks to send to soldiers serving overseas, their families here at home, and veterans.
Potential Recipients
For more than 20 years, volunteers with Operation Paperback have been distributing nearly 15,000 books each month to members of the U.S. Military.
What you’ll need
Motivation to ask friends and neighbors to share paperback books
Box to ship books
Art supplies to create cards for book recipients: Crayons or colored pencils, scissors, clear packing, and tape or laminating paper (optional)
Instructions
Sign up as an Operation Paperback volunteer. (FYI: It can take a couple of days to get confirmation from the folks at Operation Paperback.)
Wait for your volunteer application to be approved (about x days?).
Check troop requests to inform what kind of donations you ask for.
Collect books.
Package and ship books. If you are sending books only, send them via media mail, which will cost about $7 for 20 books. If you choose to add treats and small gifts, you will pay a higher rate for priority mail.
Reflection
Can you think of a time when you were stressed or far from home? What brought you comfort in that moment?
How do you feel when you are reading a good book?
How do you think you would feel if someone sent you a big box of new books when you were lonely or far from home?
Resources
The Impossible Patriotism Project by Linda Skeers
Explore the big idea of patriotism and celebrate heroes with this wonderful story. You'll meet Caleb, a boy stumped by an impossible assignment: make something showing patriotism. The big, bold ideas of his classmates only make Caleb feel worse. How can he show them that patriotism is more than maps and statues? His final project is stunning in its simplicity and power. You may even be inspired to visit our project instructions and write thank you letters to soldiers and their families.
Take it further
Make Operation Paperback a monthly family service project.
Write Letters to Soldiers.
Browse the projects in our Big-Hearted Families Tookit!
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The recommendations we offer are based solely on our mission to empower parents to raise children who care and contribute.