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
THANK YOU to National Charity League North Tustin for your June book drive and your INCREDIBLE effort! ECBC just received NCL’s donation of 444 new books of EVERY type, including board books, picture books, learn-to-read books, nonfiction/information books, graphic novels, easy chapter books, middle grade chapter books, teen/YA books, Spanish-language books, and poetry! Also, every book came with an inserted beautiful handmade bookmark — a bookmark per book is such a cool gesture that we’ve never received before! And a special thank you to Ali, Kendall, and Haley Langdon for organizing the book drive, collecting/bookplating/sorting the books, and delivering them! We so appreciate NCL North Tustin’s ongoing support!
THANK YOU to Hewes Middle School families for the 338 new books that you donated to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club last month! This was Hewes’ fourth consecutive year hosting their own school book drive, and as in the past, they delivered a terrific collection of new, high-quality books for patients of all ages from infant/toddler through teen and young adult. Which included a LARGE number of graphic novels and board books, our two most needed book types!
A special thank you to Ms. Cordero’s first period class (pictured below) for winning first place in the class competition by donating the most number of books — her class brought in 115 new books, more than 1/3 of the total! They will receive a private Hula Hoop Throw Down party with donuts and music during 1st period. Way to go Ms. Cordero’s class! And a HUGE thank you to Hewes’ Leadership teacher Dean Jennings for leading the effort and for the work of the leadership class in organizing and promoting the book drive. We appreciate you so much as a lead contributing Thrive Partner School — and you provide a terrific model for how to organize and incentivize student/family support. THANK YOU! We can’t wait to share these awesome books with oncology patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital!
THANK YOU Hicks Canyon Elementary School PTA and families for hosting a SECOND book drive this year for ECBC and for your donation this past week of 83 new books. Per Hicks’ usual donation, the collection included all wonderful high-interest titles, including many graphic novels and easy chapter books, which we really need. Hicks Canyon conducted 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 176 new books during the 2024-2025 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!
Thank you NCL North Tustin for hosting a book drive for ECBC as part of NCL’s National Day of Service MLK Book Drive. We just received the 181 new books that the NCL North Tustin chapter collected — all terrific titles that include a range of book types to meet patients’ diverse reading interests and needs. Thank you to all of the NCL young ladies and families who contributed to this effort — we can’t wait to share these books with CHOC kiddos at our upcoming delivery next week! We especially appreciate this donation given that it is on the heels of NCL North Tustin’s Halloween book drive in October — it is rare that we get back-to-back donations so close in time from the same group! We so appreciate NCL North Tustin’s ongoing support!
We just received a wonderful collection of 355 new books from the family and friends of Georgia Kokenge! Georgia is the mother-in-law of longtime and relentless ECBC supporter Fenny Kokenge; before Georgia passed away, she asked for a book drive for ECBC in lieu of flowers like her husband Gene had a few years prior. We created a “Georgia Kokenge Memorial Book Drive” wish list on Amazon for Fenny to share, and as in 2021, the response was magnificent! The books were sent directly to Fenny, and she had all of the titles on display at the celebration of life that she hosted at her home (all bookplated with in memory of Georgia Kokenge stickers and alongside photos of Georgia reading to her grandkids and students). Thank you to Fenny, Jason, and the Kokenge family — we are so grateful that you wanted to honor your beautiful mom in this way. We can’t wait to get these books into the hands of the kids at CHOC who are battling cancer and other life-threatening conditions!
Thank you Grace Lutheran School in Huntington Beach for hosting a FOURTH consecutive book drive for ECBC and collecting 136 terrific books! A special shout out to the awesome middle school students who conducted the book drive —they make their own posters and collection boxes; man a book donation table for a week before and after school; promote the book drive; and then count, sort, and deliver the books. Thank you to all the Grace Lutheran families who donated, and a special thank you to Joi Vutpakdi for her commitment to ECBC and coordinating this wonderful effort year after year.
We so appreciate our small handful of repeat donor (AKA “Thrive Partner Schools”) who host book drives for us annually. It is a TREMENDOUS help to have some bookraising happen that doesn’t require ECBC’s exceptionally limited resources in order to make happen. Grace Lutheran, and our few other Thrive Partner Schools and businesses — you are a true blessing to our tiny nonprofit!
THANK YOU to Hewes Middle School families for the 320 new books that you donated to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club this week! This was Hewes’ third year hosting their own school book drive, and as in the past, they delivered a terrific collection of new, high-quality books for patients ages infant through teen/young adult(including 74 graphic novels and 54 board books — our two most needed and book types)!
A special thank you to Mrs. Ehrhard’s PE class for winning the class competition by donating the most books. They will have a private Gaga Ball party and donuts during their first period! And a HUGE thank you to Hewes’ Leadership teacher Dean Jennings for leading the effort and for the work of the leadership class in organizing and promoting the book drive. We appreciate you so much and can’t wait to share these amazing books with oncology patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital!
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.
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!
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.
THANK YOU to Hewes Middle School families for the 430 new books that you donated to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club! This was Hewes’ second year hosting their own school book drive, and they beat their last year’s total by almost 200 books! (And, this was our third highest- one-time donation from a school, ever!). This fantastic donation included books of all types for patients ages infant through teen/young adult, and it is equivalent to one month of ECBC’s donations to CHOC, so it is so super helpful!
A special thank you to Mrs. Magnusen’s class for winning the class competition by donating the most books, and thank you to Mrs. Wagstaff’s and Ms. Moffat’s classes for also donating significant numbers. And a HUGE thank you to Hewes Leadership teacher Dean Jennings for leading the effort and for the work of the leadership class in promoting the book drive, making promotional posters, and counting and bookplating the books. We appreciate you!
Thank you @pagesabookstore (in Manhattan Beach) for hosting a book drive for ECBC, and thank you @novelthoughts_bymax for organizing it. Forty-nine great books, mostly Halloween-themed…which will be delivered to patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital in the next few days!
THANK YOU PaKua Orange for hosting a book drive in the month of September, and THANK YOU PaKua families for the 84 books that you donated. PaKua has supported ECBC since our first BOOK IT fundraiser in 2018 and we appreciate their continued partnership so very much!
THANK YOU Arroyo families for donating 52 great books at your book fair last week! ECBC is so grateful for your ongoing support for the past seven years!
A HUGE thank you to these eight (one is missing from photo) seventh graders at Grace Lutheran School in Huntington Beach for choosing ECBC for their service spring project for a second year in a row! They ran a terrific school-wide book drive, including hosting a book donation table for a week+ before and after school, making flyers and book collection boxes, creating their own promotional video/commercial to share online, and sorting/counting all of the books. In sum, they collected a total of 217 new books for kids of all ages, which is especially impressive given this school’s super small student population. Also, a huge shout out to Joi Vutpakdi for rallying the kids behind our cause as well as all of her work to help the kids make their book drive a success. And of course, thank you to all the Grace Lutheran families for all of your generous book donations. THANK YOU GRACE LUTHERAN!
A HUGE thank you to Kristin Chahbazian/Studio 17 for her super generous donation to ECBC! Recently, Kristin hosted a book drive at her Tustin-based salon where she asked her clients to donate books in lieu of giving her a monetary tip. Her amazing clients donated a total of 91 new books — mostly all popular, high-interest titles! What an amazing way to inspire community to support our cause — by turning her usual monetary tips into books for kids at CHOC Children’s Hospital! We are so very grateful for Kristin’s philanthropic heart!
A HUGE thank you to Rossmoor Elementary School for donating 531 NEW BOOKS to Ethan & Choco’s Book Club! This terrific school has a Harry Potter style house system for Knights — where the four Knight houses are engaged in friendly competition in academic and non-academic areas throughout the year, including philanthropic support of the community. What a wonderful way to create school community and motivate students! ECBC was so fortunate to be the recipient of their most recent community outreach project, where donation boxes were put out at the school for each of the Knight houses, and students purchased books to contribute by either ordering off an ECBC-provided Amazon wish list or buying books at their school book fair. We are blown away by the response, which amounts to the largest single book donation from a school that we have received and will provide 2-3 months of books for our inpatient and outpatient programs at CHOC Children’s Hospital. Congrats to House of Lancelot for contributing the most books at more than 200 new books donated!
THANK YOU Rossmoor families for rallying behind our cause. Thank you also to Kristin Moushon for thinking of ECBC and connecting us with your school. And, a special thank you to Rossmoor Principal Amy Coltey for your commitment to making community outreach part of your school’s culture and for all you did to make this book drive a great success! Go Knights!
A huge THANK YOU to the CarterStrongForever community for yet another amazing book drive! We just received 121 awesome books that were donated in honor of Carter — all selected from a specially curated list of books n memory of Carter because of their themes of kindness, humor, baseball, and superheros. CarterStrong bookplates have been affixed to all books, and we can’t wait to get these amazing titles into patients’ hands! Thank you Jamie and CarterStrongForever family and friends for your ongoing support and for allowing ECBC to play a small role in helping to keep Carter’s impact going strong.
