We had so much fun this morning at Tiddlywinks in the Orange Circle, where Ethan led a storytime along with The Potting Shed owner Jack! Thank you to the kiddos (and their parents and grandparents) who attended, and THANK YOU to Tiddlywinks owner Jeannie for inviting Ethan to read. Tiddlywinks is hosting a book drive for ECBC for the month of August, so if you’re in the area, please consider stopping by this wonderful toy (+book) store to purchase a children’s book to donate!
A big THANK YOU to Arvida Book Co and the Jack & Jill Guild of CHOC Children’s Hospital for a successful “Happy Hour Book Drive” yesterday at Arvida! In just a couple hours, 108 awesome new books were donated, including many holiday-themed books that will get delivered to patients over the next few weeks. A special shout out to Hoppy Meyer for her work coordinating the event. And a huge thank you to Arvida owners Sam and Mike for partnering with ECBC to help provide books for patients at CHOC!
Arvida will be collecting book donations throughout December, so please stop by the store if you can to purchase a new book to donate! It’s a huge win-win for all as you will also be supporting a truly awesome local Tustin independent bookstore with new and used books, a very cool coffee bar with terrific coffee, and cozy seating to hang and read and chat!
THANK YOU for your support in helping hospitalized kids to thrive through the holidays with books and reading!#holidaybookdrive #arvidabookco #ECBC #readthinkthrive #thrivingthrutheholidays #thriveagainstcancer #cognitivehealth
Please check out ECBC’s amazing bedside reader Fenny’s silent auction, this Sunday on Facebook from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. She is auctioning off 20 beautiful succulent arrangements! Visit https://www.facebook.com/fennysflowers to bid!
Fenny is using all proceeds to purchase books for ECBC and kids battling cancer! THANK YOU FENNY, YOU ARE THE BEST!
Here’s her post on FB, with pictures of each of the succulent items she is auctioning.
Ethan & Choco’s Book Club was SO very honored to be part of Miracles for Kids’ holiday party for CHOC patients and families living at Miracle Manor (a home subsidized by Miracles For Kids for 12 low-income CHOC families with critically ill children). With the generous and expedient donations of our community, we were able to deliver sets of books for all 25 patients and siblings living at Miracle Manor, all curated by the age, gender, and interests of each child — and books were passed out to each child by “Santa”, a 17-year old Leukemia patient himself. Additionally, one of ECBC’s awesome bedside reader volunteers, Fenny, provided an engaging holiday-themed storytime for the kids. We loved adding books and reading to these families’ holiday festivities (and how amazing that during the festivities, Miracles for Kids volunteers were busy decorating each of the family’s apartments for Christmas!). THANK YOU Miracles for Kids for letting Ethan & Choco’s Book Club participate in this magical event, thank you Fenny for making time to be there for the kids, and THANK YOU to all who donated so quickly and so generously to allow this to happen! Check out these amazing pictures!
ECBC had a fun and productive day on Thursday, getting books and reading to CHOC patients in a variety of ways. We teamed up with MaxLove Project for a holiday-themed BeSuper Party in the hospital lobby, where we gave away December holiday-themed books to patients and siblings of all ages. We also delivered books to the Outpatient Infusion Center, re-stocking their shelves with approximately 150 new holiday books. And, per our ongoing bi-weekly inpatient program, ECBC’s expert Bedside Readers read aloud to the Oncology and Neurology patients on the 5th floor while also giving away books to patients in isolation using our mobile book cart. To top it off, we delivered a Read+Think+Thrive Bag to a 17-year old cancer patient. It was so fun to reach so many patients at CHOC, especially with terrific high-quality, holiday-themed literature! This is the first year we’ve been able to provide CHOC kids with holiday books and they have been THRILLED — THANK YOU TO everyone who has been dropping off and sending books to us — — we’ve been overwhelmed by the donations, which are making this season at the hospital that much more
special! #HospitalizedKidsNeedBooksToo #ReadAloudEveryDay #ReadThinkThrive #ThriveAgainstCancer #BedsideReading #BeSuper #ECBC #ReadThruTheHolidays
PLEASE HELP! ECBC just agreed to participate in a new holiday event that is occurring in just a few days, and we’re looking for some support to pull it off!
On Friday December 6th, Miracle Manor (a home subsidized by Miracles for Kids for 12 low-income CHOC families with critically ill children) will be hosting a holiday event for their families, and ECBC was invited to provide storytime and books for all of the kids! Our goal is to provide two books for each of the approximately thirty children who live at Miracle Manor, with books picked out specially to match the ages, gender, and interests of each child. So, we are in need of some quick donations! You can help in one of these two ways: (1) donate via PayPal by clicking on HERE, or (2) donate a book off an Amazon wish list that ECBC created specifically for Miracle Manor kids (click HERE). Books bought off this list will go directly to ECBC with donor name written on the bookplate. We would SO appreciate your help so that we so we can provide specific titles that these children will be excited to read!
Also, ECBC needs holiday-themed books for our bedside reading program, to gift to patients in isolation, and for our annual holiday book give away event in the CHOC Children’s Hospital lobby. Please click HERE to buy books from this wish list!
THANK YOU for helping CHOC patients and families THRIVE through treatment during the holiday season!
ECBC Co-Founders Ethan and his mom Ali spent the day at the Orange County Children’s Book Festival working hard to raise awareness and collect a few book donations too. It’s hard to believe this is ECBC’s 4th year at the OC Children’s Book Festival!
One of the best things about running ECBC’s bedside reading program at CHOC Children’s Hospital is the feedback from our expert read aloud volunteers after a shift at CHOC. The reports of “yes, I want a read aloud”, of the child’s reaction to the book, of the requests for “one more story.” These are kids that are often not in school, may spend significant time on screens, and sometimes have few to none literature-based experiences or opportunities to escape their hospital world. Yesterday, both bedside reader volunteers reported that the highlight of their day was their session with a 12- and a 13- year-old boy (the age/gender combo that tends to be the most reluctant to get a “yes” from). Both read aloud picture books with true stories — one of a World War 2 soldier’s friendship with a local Filipino girl (Tucky Jo and Little Heart, by Patricia Polocco) and the other a story of a con man who posed as a government official to “sell” the Eiffel Tower to scrap metal dealers before being caught and imprisoned (Tricky Vic, by Greg Pizzoli ). Two teen/tweenage boys, agreeing to being read, agreeing to picture books (albeit sophisticated ones that target an older audience), connecting with another, dialoguing about a new story with rich content …that’s what this is all about. Allowing books and reading to help kids THRIVE while at the hospital, not just get through their stay.
As of September, ECBC’s bedside reading program is expanding from one to two days a week — allowing us to reach more hospital floors and more kids. This is one of ECBC’s reading programs, among others, that demand a successful charity run and book drive next weekend! So PLEASE join us!! Click image below to register, donate, and more! Nine days to go…Please sign up now!!
Please join us on September 8th in Irvine and walk/run for reading for hospitalized kids! Click the e-flyer below to register, join or create a team, donate, and more! Donate to our new book drive online or onsite to get a free pancake breakfast! And dress up as your favorite children’s book character and participate in our costume contest!
ECBC’s 2nd annual charity run and book drive is just around the corner, and we need your support in order to sustain/grow our book and reading programs at CHOC Children’s Hospital!
BOOK IT! Racing for Reading of Hospitalized Kids will be on Sunday, September 8th at Jeffrey Trails Middle School and Jeffrey Open Space Trail! You can help in one or more of these four ways:
BOOK IT! Is currently our primary means of fundraising and bookraising! We need all the support we can get so that we can continue to help hospitalized kids thrive through treatment with the help of books and reading. THANK YOU!
