Volunteer
Come volunteer with us! Enjoy our vibrant warehouse, build community, and help us make sure every child in Portland has access to quality books! During our 2 hour volunteer shifts, you will clean and restore community donated books which will later be distributed to local kids.
For individuals and small groups (less than 6), head over to Hands On Greater Portland (www.handsonportland.org) to sign up for one of our volunteer shifts.
Large and Corporate Group Volunteering
If you are interested in bringing a full group of 6 or more people (up to 20 people), please email bbrock@smartreading.org to schedule your group cleaning session. Scheduling for groups is always open and flexible on a rolling basis.
Corporate groups can also find us on Field Day! If you already have a Field Day team, click here to find our available sessions. If your group needs to create a team, great news: by being referred, you can also raise money for the Book Bank! We receive a $50 dollar donation for every group we refer that signs up to volunteer. Email bbrock@smartreading.org to be referred!
Other Opportunities
There are multiple ways to get involved with the Children’s Book Bank at SMART Reading—organize a book drive, check out some of the existing programs below, or contact bookbank@smartreading.org with your own ideas!
Our one-time virtual Story Like Mine Book Clubs are fun, virtual bonding activities for corporate or community groups with 7 or more participants! Choose one of our inclusive books for the group and we’ll take a deep dive into illustration choices, content, themes, and tips on how to share the book with children in your lives.
You can support our Story Like Mine initiative by donating your books to us afterwards or sharing them with others!
Story Like Mine Book Clubs are available by appointment only. Please contact bbrock@smartreading.org for more information.
We need various materials to help us clean and restore books. Contact bbrock@smartreading.org if you are interested in helping with a supplies donation. Deliver or ship all supplies to 1915 NE 7th Avenue, Portland, OR 97212.
Supplies wish list:
- Book plates
- Shipping labels (Avery #8465, 8 1/2 “ x 11”)
- Letter size printer paper boxes with lids (Banker's Boxes with lids are preferred)
- Demco tape sizes: 1" x 30 Yards, 2" x 30 Yards, 3" x 30 Yards
- Art supplies: Twistables crayons, colored pencils, dry erase markers, Sharpies, Elmer’s glue sticks, Magic Rub white erasers
- Cleaning supplies: Mrs. Meyer’s all-purpose cleaner, microfiber cloths, wipes
- Printer paper
Tote bags: Contact bbrock@smartreading.org if you would like to contribute to our bag fund.
Volunteer from home by sewing tote bags for book bundles! Check out our Tote Bag Instructable for easy instructions for all ages and levels of sewing experience.
Help deliver books to local elementary schools and community organizations! This is a great role for volunteers with limited or inconsistent availability looking for a one-off opportunity. Requirements for this role are a car with storage space, a driver’s license, and car insurance. Drivers must be 21 or older. Lifting heavy items (book bundles in tote bags or boxes of chapter books) is not a requirement—if you can, that’s great, but if not we can accommodate!
We usually schedule deliveries in the early afternoon (before 3PM) Mondays-Thursdays when schools are open. Sites sometimes offer to help transport books, but quite often you will do most or all of the lifting and transporting at the site (unless you require accommodations). We can provide a cart to help move items that will need to be returned at the end of the day. We are not currently able to offer reimbursements to volunteers for mileage.
If you’re interested in this volunteer opportunity, please email rdonehey@smartreading.org to get scheduled!
Web design? Mural creation? Community organizing? We welcome your passion and skills! Please contact bbrock@smartreading.org to discuss how you can get involved.
Volunteering FAQs:
If you’d like to volunteer by yourself or with a small group of family, friends, or colleagues, please look for our volunteer opportunities posted on Hands On Greater Portland.
If you’d like to bring 6 or more people in to volunteer, please email bbrock@smartreading.org to arrange a time. We can only take up to 15 volunteers per session.
Absolutely! Just remember that we do need room in our lot for folks stopping by with book donations, so please avoid double parking or parking in front of our door.
That’s wonderful! There are a variety of ways you can engage. Please email bbrock@smartreading.org for more information.
Excellent! We love to see kids involved in their community and you can help your child as young as 10 engage with CBB in a variety of ways:
Sign up for one of our sessions posted to Hands On Greater Portland. Reserve your own special group for your child’s team, birthday or school community. Our volunteer model works best when adults and kids participate side by side. Please keep that in mind when building your group.
Host a book drive in your community.
Volunteer from home by sewing tote bags for book bundles. Check out our Tote Bag Instructable for easy instructions for all ages and levels of sewing experience.
The very best way for you to complete your required hours is through our partnership with Hands On Greater Portland. Please look for our shifts on the Project Calendar under the tagline: Get Books To Kids.
All students under 18 attending Hands On sessions will need to bring along youth waivers for both Hands On and the Children’s Book Bank at SMART Reading. If you are 15 or older, you will be able to sign up for these shifts and attend these sessions alone. If you are under 15, you will need to bring along an adult.
You could also complete these hours by hosting a book drive in your community or sewing tote bags for book bundles. Check out our Tote Bag Instructable for easy instructions for all ages and levels of sewing experience.
We are not able to accommodate individual student volunteers outside of these opportunities.
You can find youth waivers for both the Book Bank and Hands On when you sign up through Hands On Portland.
Absolutely! Individual volunteers are welcome to sign up for any of our shifts posted to Hands On Greater Portland.
We are unable to accommodate drop-in volunteering. It's important to ensure the quality of the books that we restore, and each volunteer receives cleaning instructions each time they attend.
We strive to cultivate an inclusive environment during the book cleaning sessions open to the larger community. Groups larger than 6 at these events quickly become the majority and can very unintentionally make others feel as if they’re intruding at the event. A size limit also very practically ensures that we have enough volunteers present at each shift to complete the necessary work in case something prevents an entire team from attending at the last minute.
We indeed used to be able to accommodate much larger groups. However, in the summer of 2019, we reorganized our warehouse, with the goal of increasing our capacity for books and expanding our volunteer experience. In the process, we had to sacrifice a bit of space that we used for book cleaning tables. We also have this in place to ensure social distancing in the warehouse.
Come check out the new space, and we promise that you’ll love it!
We no longer offer offsite book cleaning sessions.
We would be delighted to come speak if we can make it fit our schedule! Please reach out to bbrock@smartreading.org.
We would be delighted to participate if we can make it fit our schedule. Please reach out to bbrock@smartreading.org with all the details.
Our volunteer group leaders are happy to sign your verification records at the end of each shift you attend. You can also print out your attendance records in your Hands On portal.
Everyone needs to be registered on Hands On Portland in order to attend. You can learn how to build a team or sign up for the wait-list here.
Absolutely! Please give us a heads up before your session.
All of our available options on the form are kept current. So if this happens, we would not be able to accommodate your request. We hope to host more shifts as we grow so please check back often.