Abbie DuFrayne is the Founder and CEO of Philly Bookshelf, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides books to the Philadelphia area. This charitable corporation has a mission of increasing the literacy opportunities in the Philly region with a focus on bringing more reading material into low-income neighborhoods.
Madison Betts: Thank you for meeting with me today, Abbie. To start, can you please tell me what attracted you to this cause? What inspired the creation of Philly Bookshelf?
Abbie DuFrayne: Well, I’m originally from Philadelphia and I moved to Seattle, Washington about eight years ago. I had a couple of friends who moved out to Seattle from Philly as well and when we got here, we saw that there were a lot more resources here for literacy. The libraries had helped fund a ton of little free libraries around the city—those boxes that are on the street filled with books. There were a lot more programs dedicated to literacy. So, we thought, “Is this something that we can help with elsewhere?”
People read a lot in Seattle. It’s one of the topmost literate cities in the country and so, to begin, we collected books mostly at Microsoft. We were lucky that someone on our board, and my husband, worked at Microsoft, which is why we started there by just collecting books that people didn’t need anymore. Then we found some community partners in Philadelphia to send these books to. From there we said, “Can we help out with the schools?”
There’s a need for getting books into Philadelphia schools so we put offers out there on the web. We got one teacher that requested books at first but then the next week we got over 100 teachers
requesting books. So, we have been growing and learning since then because we were only founded in June of 2018.
MB: Can you tell me about a specific person, school, or group that has used this program? Is there any particular moment or memory that stands out for you?
AD: I had a friend from high school who owns and runs the Germantown Kitchen Garden, so that was the first person I reached out to because I wanted to ask, “Could this work?” We paid for a little free library for her to put in the garden and then from there we faced the problem of: people don’t know how to return the books. We started printing stickers and it was a great learning experience.
Furthermore, I saw online that Philadelphia Fight had a wish list for their pediatric unit. On the list were a ton of books. I sent them a box of books and then they got in touch with me. That’s become a really great partnership that has been going on since January of 2019. We’ve been working to get them the books they need, and they’ve been great on feedback.
You know, that’s the other thing that’s interesting between the teachers and the individual community groups telling us specifically what they need. One of the things we found out over time, which we didn’t really know in the beginning, was that there is a real need for Spanish language books at all levels. I had no idea. Diversity was always a big thing for us from the beginning, so we ended up having to order a ton of Spanish books because we don’t get a lot of donations on that front. That’s been really interesting. Almost all of our partners, most of our teachers, and our community partners need Spanish language books.
MB: What is the biggest challenge Philly Bookshelf is facing with the current state of the world?
AD: I mean, like everything else, funding. Every nonprofit everywhere will always tell you it’s funding. We are still fairly new, so our really committed donors have been great. We’ve come through the pandemic okay so far because we didn’t have any paid employees, which has been helpful to us. Eventually we are planning to go in that direction. However, right now, I think it’s just been about making sure that we can meet the needs of everybody coming forward and asking for books. Most people have been very understanding because they’re also having to shift a little bit and pivot into how things are going.
In 2019, the schools were the most demand that we got. Then, last year when everyone went home, a lot of the teachers said to please wait until they were back in their classrooms. On the other hand, the community partners with the community bookshelves said they needed more books because people were going mad when the libraries closed down. The community members deal directly so they needed more books. Needing to pivot is not necessarily hard, but we don’t know what the rest of 2021 will be like.
MB: With so many great organizations to support, why should people choose to support Philly Bookshelf?
AD: We haven’t really done any fundraising in Philly since, when we started, we knew we didn’t want to take resources in Philly from people that were already impeded. We mostly have been fundraising here in Seattle with a lot of the tech companies because they have more resources
and even just getting books is easier too. So, if people want to donate books in Philly that’s great but we’ve been focusing our efforts in Seattle.
MB: What is the best way people can get involved now? What would you say to someone considering getting involved?
AD: It’s a little different. We do take volunteers for administrative projects, but I would say one of the things is that you can gather up books. If you want us to help you get in touch with places in Philly to donate, then we can help you with that. That’s a great way to volunteer and something that’s fairly easy because I feel like a lot of people, it seems, have been reading more because they’ve been home so much. If you have print books to donate that’s always a great thing to do, or even just contacting a teacher. If you know a teacher, reach out and find out if they need books or anything like that for their classrooms because it seems like all teachers need new books for their classroom. Especially since they’ve been releasing and publishing so many more diverse books now. It’s been really helpful.
MB: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
AD: I think just knowing that there’s a need for books is something I like to convey to people. A lot of people think most people read books online, but I just saw a figure in The Wall Street Journal that said 80% of books sold are print books. I think that when you’re done with a print book, don’t hoard it, give it to somebody else unless it’s one of your favorite books. Most people are trying to build their bookshelf but if you’re never going to read a book again, somebody else could use and benefit from that book. This is ultimately what we are trying to convey to people.
For more information on Philly Bookshelf, check out their website: https://www.phillybookshelf.org/
To stay updated with Philly Bookshelf’s efforts, follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillybookshelf/
Madison Betts is a junior at Drexel University pursuing a B.A. in English with a concentration in writing. When she isn’t buried in a book, she spends her time writing one, aiming to publish a series of her own. She also enjoys paddle boarding, yoga, and boxing.