Ethan & Choco's Book Club

Striving to make access to books and reading a core part of the care that kids receive in the hospital, with the premise that literacy support for children fighting cancer and other life-altering conditions can help promote cognitive health and social connections that are part of thriving through treatment and beyond

Category Archives: Thank you!


by Leave a comment

Thank you Olga — We have Spanish books now!

Repeat ECBC supporter Olga just completed a “birthday book drive”, where she asked her friends and family to donate books for ECBC in honor of her birthday! She focused on collecting Spanish-language books by sharing an Amazon wish list with Spanish titles that ECBC provided her. Olga collected and delivered 143 new Spanish-language books! This equates to several months worth of Spanish book donations to CHOC patients — saving us hundreds of dollars on our usual Spanish book expenses!

This was Olga’s third targeted book drive/book donation, “targeted” meaning that she focuses on collecting a specific book type. Last year Olga collected books for teens and young adults, and the prior year Olga ran her first birthday book drive — also for Spanish-language books. Targeted book drives rarely happen, but when they do, they are particularly helpful because they provide ECBC with a collection of books that we most need — which greatly helps to offset book purchasing costs.

If you are interested in hosting your own targeted book drive (e.g., poetry, board books, books addressing a specific theme such as kindness or bravery) in honor of your birthday or for another special event, you can email us at ali@ECbookclub.com. We can provide the wish list with link to share.

Thank you Olga for helping hospitalized kids to have Spanish-language books. We so appreciate you!


by Leave a comment

Thank you Hicks Canyon Elementary!

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School PTA and families for hosting another book drive for ECBC and for your donation this week of 77 new books. The donation included ALL wonderful high-interest titles, including many graphic novels which we really need. Hicks Canyon conduced the book drive alongside their school’s book fair, which works so well for elementary schools since parents are visiting the fair anyway to purchase books for their kids and teachers (and schools usually benefit in the form of Scholastic points from the increased sales).

This was Hicks’ second book drive of the school year to benefit ECBC — resulting in a total of 164 new books during the 2023-2024 school year. Hicks is one of ECBC’s few “regular” donors (aka “Thrive Partner Schools”). We so appreciate our Thrive Partner Schools as they provide passive book income that we can count on — which our tiny nonprofit very much needs. A special thank you to Tina Jussal for making this (and every) Hicks book drive happen!


by Leave a comment

Thank You High School Ethan & Choco Clubs!

ECBC received a couple of donations this month from two high school Ethan & Choco Clubs. Both clubs are run by student leaders, so all club activities are fully organized and implemented by high schoolers. Thank you to the Foothill High School ECBC club for holding a book drive —which involved making posters and donation boxes, promoting on social media, and coordinating collection sites with English teachers. The Foothill club donated over 100 books, with Ms Womack Williams’ class donating the most and winning the club’s promised donut party!

Thank you also to the ECBC club at El Dorado High (called Books for CHOC) for the bookmarks you donated last week. They are beautiful and literary-themed, and we can’t wait to share them with patients next month! 

ECBC is so grateful for the few existing ECBC support clubs, as they help to spread awareness about our cause, assist with the high volume of books ECBC needs for donations each month, and result in wonderful student-created materials that are creative and personal. The clubs also provide high school students with impactful leadership opportunities so they are a win-win for all!

If you or a teen you know is interested in starting a club at your own high school at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, please check out the information/ideas sheet below. Contact Ali at ali@ECbookclub.com to learn more. 

School-based-Ethan-and-Choco-clubsDownload


by Leave a comment

Thank you Tustin Community Partners!

This week we received book donations from three fantastic community partners: National Charity League (NCL) North Tustin, Baum Orthodontics, and Arvida Book Co! NCL collected 103 new books and wrote “Care Cards” for our book bags that go to kids when they are diagnosed with cancer. Their donation included a ton of board books for infants/toddlers, which are our greatest need as we have to buy them weekly. We just picked up 100 books from Baum Ortho, who has collects books for ECBC on an ongoing basis for several years — largely through their retainer replacement program (families get a huge break on their new retainer if they donate books — how awesome!). And, Arvida has a book donation box onsite so customers can purchase new books to donate — this time, we received 40 books from them, just one of many donations that they provide throughout the year.

Each of these three are considered ECBC Thrive Partners, which are repeat donors who continue to support ECBC from year to year. We give out 500 new books per month to kids at CHOC Children’s Hospital, and these partnerships are how we keep it going. Thrive Partners are especially helpful for our tiny all volunteer-based nonprofit organization because they provide our charity with much-needed passive bookraising opportunities. Thank you NCL North Tustin, Baum Ortho, and Arvida!

If you are a Tustin or nearby business and interested in having a book collection box onsite, or if you are a philanthropic organization and want to host a book drive, please email ali@ECbookclub.com. Per hospital infectious disease rules, all books must be brand new.


by Leave a comment

Thank you TVT!

THANK YOU to Tarbut V’Torah (TVT) Community Day School’s Lower Campus for conducting another AWESOME book drive for ECBC alongside your school’s book fair! TVT donated a total 397 new books in literally every category that we need them, and as usual they are all terrific highly popular titles. TVT has always used friendly competition to boost student participation, and this year they had a different twist: Every class that donates 25 books would receive an ice cream party, and the grade level to donate the most books also would receive a lunch party. What a brilliantly inclusive way to structure the competition! Congratulations to the 4th graders for donating the most books!

A special shout-out to the Leadership class for promoting the book drive by making posters to put around campus. And thank you to Kimberly Lee and Leigh Choueke for all your work in helping to coordinate the book drive. And thank you TVT for providing fun incentives! This is the SEVENTH year that TVT has conducted a book drive for ECBC — collecting anywhere between 200 to 1000+ books for us each year and a total of 2625 books across the years. TVT, you have made a difference in the success of our tiny non-profit! We are so very grateful for this partnership.


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU PaperPie

THANK YOU to Paper Pie and Kera Montoya for these awesome 75 new Halloween-themed books! And thank you to everyone who supported Kera’s Cards for a Cause fundraiser which raised the funds for these books! We still need several hundred more Halloween books for our BOO-ls for Treats event at CHOC! Donate at http://bit.ly/Halloweenbooks4ECBC or click on link below.

ECBC_halloween_flyer-UPDATE.23Download


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon, Arroyo, and Guin Foss!

THANK YOU to these Tustin Unified School District elementary schools for hosting book drives for ECBC last week: Hicks Canyon, Arroyo, and Guin Foss. All three schools collected books for Ethan & Choco’s Book Club as part of their fall book fairs, and all three schools do this regularly, 1-2 times per year alongside their book fairs. ECBC is currently donating 500-600 new books per month to CHOC patients, and most of these books come from school book drives. So it is a big deal to have “regulars” whom we can count on for incoming books! A special shout out to Hicks Canyon parent Tina Jussal, Guin Foss Librarian (and ECBC Board Member) Susie Alexander, and Arroyo parent Claudia Rounaghi for coordinating your school’s book drive efforts!

Please contact ECBC (ali@ECbookclub.com) if your school would like to partner with ECBC and run your own book drive! There are meaningful ways to involve students as desired, especially if your school’s ASB/leadership class would like to take it on!


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU BAUM ORTHO!

Thank you Baum Orthodontics for these 117 new books! Your ongoing book drive and regular donations are such a blessing for ECBC!

Baum Ortho collects books regularly for ECBC, in part by offering patient families deals on their retainer replacements if they donate new books. How AWESOME is that?! ECBC is in need of more partnerships like this with our community to help keep up with the 500-600 new books that we provide to CHOC each month. Please contact us (ali@ECbookclub.com) if you’d like to encourage your clients/customers/patients/community to donate new books and become an ECBC book donation site!

Community partnerships like this one with Baum Ortho are passive bookraising for ECBC and make such a difference for our tiny nonprofit!


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Cooper!

How amazing is this??! Eagle Scout Cooper from Troop 243 of Santa Ana just completed his Eagle Scout Project, where he built two book donation boxes for ECBC (large logo decals to be affixed on the white side upon arrival). Cooper spent the last few months planning, building, painting, and adding finishing touches to the boxes (with hinges, wheels, and handles). And Cooper and family delivered the boxes yesterday, along with a terrific assortment of new books that he collected through a book drive he hosted. The boxes are well-made and beautiful!

With two additional boxes, ECBC can now have boxes available when multiple book drives are occurring simultaneously, and they will be of great help at our annual fundraiser in September which is a charity run + book drive — they will allow boxes to be placed at various bookseller/author booths for easy donation.

Thank you Cooper for choosing Ethan & Choco’s Book Club for your Eagle Scout Project and for a gift that will make a lasting impact on our nonprofit’s bookraising efforts for Orange County’s hospitalized kids!


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Peters Canyon Elementary

Thank you to Peters Canyon Elementary teacher Elise Hong and her 5th grade class for conducting an impromptu book drive for ECBC in the final two weeks of school!  Elise and her students decorated a book donation box, made posters, and spread the word with the rest of the school — and they collected 88 new books amongst the usual end-of-school year craziness!  These books will  be going directly to kids at CHOC Children’s Hospital next week!  Thank you to all PCE families who donated, and ECBC is looking forward to a continuing partnership with Peters Canyon! 


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Grace Lutheran School!

Thank you Grace Lutheran School, Huntington Beach, for hosting a third consecutive book drive for ECBC and collecting 142 terrific books! A special shout out to the awesome middle school students who conducted the book drive — including making posters and collection boxes as well as manning a book donation table for a week before and after school. Also, thank you to Joi Vutpakdi for rallying the kids behind our cause and for her work to help the kids make their book drive a success. THANK YOU GRACE LUTHERAN!


by Leave a comment

Thank you Tavi’s Fairy Festival!

THANK YOU to Tavi’s Fairy Festival for the 81 books you collected/donated as a tribute to Tavi’s love of books and all things fancy! We can’t wait to get these books into the hands of kids at CHOC are are battling life-altering illnesses.  Thank you also to Whitney Fink for organizing this book drive as part of this beautiful celebration of Tavi’s life!


by Leave a comment

Thank you Foothill High School

THANK YOU Foothill High School families for donating books to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club last month. There is always such an abundance of information and philanthropic opportunities coming from our kids’ schools, and we so appreciate your taking the time to support ECBC’s programs at CHOC. A huge shout out to FHS’ Ethan & Choco’s Club for hosting such a successful book drive! You collected 100 new books –approximately $1000 worth — a record for a high school book drive for ECBC! Your posters, social media marketing, on-site and online options for book donations, and your homemade brownie incentive all paid off!

If teens are interested in starting an Ethan & Choco Club at their own high school, refer to/print flyer below or email ali@ECbookclub.com.

School-based-Ethan-and-Choco-clubsDownload


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon!

THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School for hosting a spring book drive and collecting 77 new books for ECBC — all of which will be going directly to CHOC this Friday as part of our monthly outpatient library re-stocking day. We are so grateful that you chose to support ECBC at BOTH your school book fairs this year, and we are super excited about your commitment to partner with us in the future. And a big thank you to Tina Jussal for your ongoing leadership in putting together book drives for us. We are giving away a significant number of books (~500+ per month), so we depend on schools like Hicks to keep on going. Thank you!


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Baum Squad!

Thank you Baum Ortho for this amazing donation of 108 new books! Baum families who donated, as usual, you did a terrific job at picking out highly popular titles and so much variety — we received books in every book type category! We are so very grateful for ECBC’s ongoing partnership with Baum Ortho. It makes a big difference for us to have these awesome books coming in regularly, which go right to oncology and other patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital!


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU NCTE AND ARVIDA!

How amazing is this?! A HUGE donation of teen/YA books from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), via Arvida Book Co who attended their conference last month. Exact number TBD, but it’s looking upwards of 1000 books. THANK YOU NCTE, publishers, and Arvida for making it easier for us to provide hospitalized teens with excellent literature! 


by Leave a comment

THANK YOU Andersen Elementary School!

Andersen Elementary School in Newport Beach hosted a coin drive for ECBC alongside their school book fair. With the funds collected, they were able to purchase 102 new Halloween books for our Halloween book gifting at CHOC next week! THANK YOU Andersen Elementary for supporting ECBC and for helping us get closer to the significant number of books we need to collect!


by Leave a comment

Thank you Orange Chamber of Commerce!

Thank you to the Orange Chamber of Commerce for conducting a Halloween book drive in the month of September, and of course thank you to everyone who contributed to it. They collected a terrific collection of 119 new Halloween-themed books, which gives us a great start towards the 600 books that we need for our BOO-ks for Treats Halloween event at CHOC Children’s Hospital. And a huge THANK YOU to Orange Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Elizabeth Holloman for all your work to organize and oversee the book drive — sharing the wish list, opening all the packages, bookplating with donor names; we appreciate your help so very much!!

If anyone didn’t get a chance to donate a Halloween book and would like to, we still need hundreds! You can select a book off our list and it will come directly to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club: https://a.co/8wsb23B