After much contemplation and discussion, the board of ECBC has made the difficult decision to dissolve Ethan & Choco’s Book Club. Over the past ten years, ECBC has helped patients thrive through treatment at CHOC Children’s Hospital, with both inpatient and outpatient literacy and book gifting programs. Our bedside readers have faithfully read to thousands of patients, and we have donated tens of thousands of new, high-quality books to cancer warriors and other patients — specially curating the books to meet the diverse needs and interests of patients of all ages infant through young adult. We hope we have made their difficult life circumstances more bearable and enriched their cognitive health with support for literacy and thinking skills that is so often missing from hospitalized children’s experiences. We are thankful we had the opportunity for a full decade of impact on the lives of patients and their families at CHOC Children’s Hospital.
Despite our robust literacy programs at CHOC, the Outpatient Infusion Center, and the Hyundai Cancer Institute clinic, we have been faced with rising costs and significant obstacles at the hospital that have prevented us from fully fulfilling our mission. During the past two years, we have been unsuccessful in securing ongoing funding to support our program needs, maintaining engagement for our work in our online audience, as well as growing our board in the way that is necessary for a nonprofit to function. Also, as our co-founder, Ethan, has embarked on his college adventure at Duke University, his participation in the organization has become more challenging. In the past year and a half, the work of running the organization has been delegated to just a couple of people. Given these challenges, now seems like a logical time to bid farewell.
It takes a community to make a nonprofit successful, and your faithful participation was such a blessing to us! We were always encouraged by your loyalty to ECBC and loved doing social media and newsletter shout-outs to thank you for your incredible support. You donated books, hosted your own book drives, “ran for reading”, dressed up as your favorite literary character, recruited event sponsors, held birthday and memorial parties asking for books instead of gifts or flowers, rallied youth groups around our cause and made thousands of support materials (e.g. custom book marks and holiday cards), and as you shared the work of ECBC, it brought in new supporters. Your impact was significant and meaningful, and it kept us going for many years!
October will be our final month of literacy programming – with Halloween-themed bedside reading and book gifting both inpatient and at the outpatient centers. Our final day at CHOC will be Friday, Oct. 31, for BOO-ks for Treats, our annual event where we give away hundreds of Halloween books to children hospitalized at CHOC. This is a fitting way to go out, as Halloween was Ethan’s first event at CHOC – he dressed up in costume and trick-or-treated on the same day that he started chemo! Ethan will soon be sharing a video asking for one last book donation in order to support this event.
Thank you, ECBC community, from the bottom of my heart for sticking with us for so long and allowing us to spend a decade helping hospitalized kids to thrive through books and literacy experiences.
Ali Posner, for the Board of ECBC
