Tuesday, June 30, 2009

MCV Child Care Center Fundraiser for Books on Wheels!

WHAT: Summer Camp Bike-A-Thon to raise money and to collect books and bikes for Richmond’s Books On Wheels
* Come and enjoy FREE lemonade and cookies while our Summer Camp class bikes for a cause!
* Any donation of money, books and/ or bikes will be greatly appreciated!
WHEN: Friday, July 24, 2009 from 1:00 - 3:30
WHERE: MCV Child Care Center - N Deck Parking Cove, 607 North 10th Street, Richmond, VA

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Website Update...

May I think about this too much, but I get worried about whether or not people understand what Books on Wheels does and more specifically why. So I am working on fine tuning our website "about" page. here is what I have so far updated...

About

Who we are and what we do:

Books on Wheels is a Richmond, Virginia based 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that provides free books and free bicycle repair. As a mobile operation, Books on Wheels is able to travel to many different communities in Richmond and around the country to provide our services. We work with various other organizations in order to provide to their clients as well as people in their communities. Our services are available to anyone and everyone, yet we do have a concentration in working with at-risk youth in low-income neighborhoods. Currently, we are working on occupying a space within Richmond so we can expand our operation to provide free books and offer bicycle repair classes at a particular location. Our new project will allow for more volunteer participation, as well as ability to reach more people within the community.

Our Mission:

Books on Wheels is dedicated to promoting literacy and alternative transportation, while providing much need resources to our communities lacking access to free books and bicycle tools and education. Through literature and bicycle riding, Books on Wheels works to educate people with empowering tools that they can use within their communities to teach other. In concentrating in working with youth, Books on Wheels strives to encourage young people to read and to learn skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.

How it works:
NOW:
Books on Wheels partners with other community organizations and sets a certain time and location in which the bus will arrive to provide free books and free bicycle repair. Partnering organizations are encouraged to let their clients and neighbors know about the event and to bring their bicycles for repair and their arms for taking books. All books are free and people are encouraged to read them, keep them, or pass them on to someone else. All events are open to the public unless otherwise stated.

SOON:
Books on Wheels Community Space Project (currently in the works) will provide a free bookstore during certain open hours as well as bicycle repair workshops. The main focus of the workshops is to develop a youth bicycle building program that will allow kids under the age of 18 to volunteer 15 hours of work building their own bicycle and they will get to keep it at the end of the program.

How to help:

Books on Wheels depends on the support of the community to continue with our mission. We accept monetary donations, donations of gently used books, and bicycles/bicycle parts. All donations made to Books on Wheels are tax-deductible. Please visit our DONATION page to see how you can help us continue to help others.Please contact us if you are interested in sponsoring Books on Wheels!

booksonwheelsva@yahoo.com

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Books on Wheels at The Robinson Theater!


Books on Wheels will be providing free books and free bicycle repair at the Robinson Theater on Tuesday June 30th from 4-7 pm. Located at 2903 Q St. in Church Hill, Richmond, VA 23220.

http://www.robinsontheater.org/Welcome.html

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

From the Blahhg...


Thanks to Miles. ..

http://theblaaahg.com/post/120571238/help-books-on-wheels

Who is Henrico County's 2009 National Achievment Award Winner according to the National Association of Counties? Books on Wheels!


Check out this link to see it in real life:

http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm?Section=Achievement_Awards&Template=/cffiles/awards/2009achieve.cfm

VCU TV Program "Chop Suey" Feature Books on Wheels wins Emmy!

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For immediate release:
6/8/2009
Mike Porter
VCU Communications and Public Relations
(804) 828-7037
mrporter@vcu.edu
VCU TV/HD Wins Two Regional Emmy Awards for Excellence

Virginia Commonwealth University’s VCU TV/HD won two regional Emmy Awards at the 51st Emmy Awards held on June 6 in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was sponsored by the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

VCU TV-HD received an Emmy in the category of “Documentary-Cultural” for “VCU Qatar.“ Lisa Figueroa was senior producer and Jordan Rodericks was producer for the program. In the category of “Public/Current/Community Affairs – Program/Special,” VCU TV/HD received an Emmy for “Chop Suey,” which was produced by Alexander Germanotta.

Another VCU TV/HD program was nominated in the “Public/Current/Community Affairs – Program/Special” category. “VCU Inside Out: Gary Sange” was produced by Michael Bell.

“We are really excited about winning these awards,” said Dan Brazda, VCU TV/HD executive producer. “Being awarded the Emmys is especially gratifying because we are a college operation that is essentially competing against broadcast stations and production facilities.”

VCU TV/HD is one of the first student-run operations in the country to produce programming in a high-definition format.

A partnership with Community Idea Stations, owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, allows the programs to run on WCVW Richmond PBS channel 57 (cable channel 24 in the Richmond area.)

The programs can be downloaded and a complete schedule of broadcasts is available at http://www.vcutvhd.vcu.edu/shows/schedule.html. The programs can also be downloaded for free in iTunes in both the iPod and HD versions.

The Emmy Award submissions, which totaled 645 this year, were broadcast between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2008, and judged by panels assembled by the Heartland, Mid-America, Mid-Atlantic, San Francisco/Northern California, Ohio Valley and Suncoast chapters.

The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was established in 1958-59 and is an organization composed of more than 700 television broadcast professionals dedicated to fostering and recognizing outstanding achievements in television production throughout the National Capital Chesapeake Bay region.

Books on Wheels: The Community Space

Dear Friends!

You all are familiar with Books on Wheels and our buses and, for the most part, how we operate in terms of providing free books and free bicycle repair as a mobile operation. In the last few months, Ward and I have decided that in order to expand and offer more to the Richmond community we would like to offer a grounded version of Books on Wheels called.. This Community Space will provide a great deal of interesting opportunities for Books on Wheels and the community:

1. Storage space for more books and more bicycles/bicycle donations to be distributed back to the community

2. A second donation location for those in the community making a donation

3. A free book store! FREE BOOKS!

4. A free workshop space that will provide FREE BICYCLE REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE CLASSES! FREE LEARNING!

5. A community minding space in order for volunteers to have an opportunity to work within the Richmond community in helping others who may not have the means to educational and transportation resources that are important to empowering people in their lives

Currently, we are trying to get the word out about our quest for a location. If anyone is aware of any spaces available for rent in the Richmond, Virginia area, please let us know! We are also more than happy to work on negotiating a shared space or a donated space for trade of fixing up a building. And, as always, as a 501 ( c) 3 non-profit organization, all donations, including the use of a space, are tax-deductible. Thanks for your support!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Running again


Thanks to Greg and the guys at Paradise Garage for getting the bus running again after it sat in my backyard for six months wearing a bald spot into the earth that probably wont go away. Anyway, WHOA! if that didnt take me long enough to get taken care of. Thanks Greg! The wheels on the bus are, once again, going round and round.
-Shelley