Book Drive for Breakthrough Cambridge: A Raisin in the Sun

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I just got this from Porter Square Books:

As we did last year at this time, we are again counting on your generosity to help students at Breakthrough Cambridge. This organization is a tuition-free, academically intensive, college-preparatory program for motivated, low-income students in the Cambridge Public Schools. Students this summer will be reading A Raisin in the Sun. They need 55 copies and that is where we come in. We are offering a 20% discount on the title which is only $7.00. You buy the book for roughly $5.74, drop it in our collection/donation box, and walk away with a very satisfying feeling of well being. You have done good. (And yes, for all of you frustrated copy editors out there, I know this is not proper grammar.)

So sometime between Monday, May 9 and June 22 please stop by and help us make that goal. As always, we thank you very much.


Contact Information
email: ellen@portersquarebooks.com
phone: 617-491-2220
web: http://www.portersquarebooks.com

Comments

[freedmam.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting! I like that such a small monetary donation can end up helping local youth.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

I worked for Breakthrough in Austin, they're a great organization!!

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this--I shop at PSB, but I hadn't caught wind of this, and I will make a point of stopping by and buying a copy or few.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Independent booksellers also sell very affordable new and used copies through Amazon. (Look for the "new and used copies" also available link on the main page for the book.) Amazon does get a little of the money, but the independent sellers get most of it.

I recommend Better World Books (http://www.amazon.com/shops/betterworldbooks) at Amazon, or at their own website at BetterWorldBooks.com (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/). Their sales support literacy programs worldwide.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

so you're recommending people buy books for this program from a non-local store, then have them shipped here, then go to the local store that's discounting books, supporting the community and working with Breakthrough, as well as spending marketing time promoting this, to drop them off in the drop box that is being paid for by the local store's rent?

Just checking.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'm suggesting that people could afford MORE BOOKS for the education program if they support a local or otherwise (there are indeed local booksellers on Amazon), and I'm suggesting that they also support two education programs at the same time that help both local and global children.

And presumably the Porter Square Books folks (who are very cool, by the way), care more about helping the program than about making profits, which is why they are doing this in the first place. So they would presumably be happier if they could help the school get all the books they need, regardless of whether they are selling them or not.

But I could be wrong. Maybe they really are just doing this to make a profit, and one would be better off donating the books directly to the school. How you invest your personal resources, and who you support is entirely up to you. I take it you'd rather support Porter Square Books. That's fine with me. I like them.