A New Chapter: NCE Donates Books to Local School District and National Nonprofit

Over the summer, NCE's Reading Center, Center for Teaching through Children's Books, and all faculty offices moved from the North Shore to the Wheeling Campus. With this change, came opportunity. After the centers and faculty culled their book collections, NCE donated 225 boxes of books to Better World Books, a nonprofit bookstore that resells or recycles used books. The sales profits fund literacy initiatives worldwide.

Many books pulled from the Center for Teaching through Children's Books and the Reading Center's collections are also making an impact locally. Todd Freer, '08 M.E.D. Curriculum & Instruction, is a Library Media Specialist at Zion East School District 6, a low-income, dual-language district with seven schools serving a diverse student population. He reached out to NLU's Library Coordinator, Amanda Bendle, seeking book donations for an initiative he's leading to encourage and enhance a "home-library" concept across the district. Amanda packed and set aside 17 boxes of books for Todd to pick up. Now, the PK-8th grade students across the district have new literary materials. Todd said he's grateful for the education he received at NCE and that, as an alumnus, he can still count on the University for support.

If you want to make a book donation, you can find Better World Book bins at the Lisle and Wheeling campuses.