The Book Fairies is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that collects reading materials for people in need throughout metropolitan New York. The reading materials foster literacy and academic success, provide a respite from personal struggles, and nurture a love of reading across age groups.
Amy Zaslansky is the founder of The Book Fairies, a nonprofit organization that provides books to people in need across metropolitan New York. Since its inception in 2012, The Book Fairies has donated more than 2.7 million books to underserved schools and nonprofit organizations including hospitals, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and correctional facilities. Amy, a lifelong avid reader and lover of books.
She is a Maryland native, graduated from Emory University with a BA in Psychology and earned her MS in Occupational Therapy from Temple University. Her earlier careers included being an Occupational Therapist, and operating an e-commerce site. Amy resides on Long Island with her husband, three children, and a small menagerie of pets.
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The first segment opens with Tommy introducing the show and today's guest. Amy Zaslansky, founder of the book fairies, a non profit organization that provides books to people in need across metropolitan New York. Also on today's show, Eileen also from the book fairies. Tommy then goes into some background about Amy and Eileen. After Tommy is done reading their accomplishments, they both give some more detailed background.
The second segment starts with Tommy giving a testimony to the book fairies service and opening up the conversation to Amy and Eileen. They both explain that the people coming to get books have an unlimited amount they can take. This is due to having a surplus in books to donate. Amy and Eileen explain that in their warehouse, they are starting to overflow in inventory and truthfully approaching not having enough room to store the books. Roughly 50,000 books are given out a month and half of one million a year. Amy explains that her love for reading and becoming aware of the statistics regarding the correlation between poverty and certain social impacts and not being able to read led her to finding the book fairies.
The third segment starts with Tommy bringing the show back up from break and giving a reintroduction of the guests, Amy Zaslansky and Eileen. Tommy brings the conversation back to how The book Fairies goes about getting books to the community. Amy explains through an incredible partnership with life's work, she was able to grow over 30 special needs organizations and get books to the community. Tommy then discusses the impact of the book fairies over the last decade. Amy and Eileen explain that without the volunteers and organizations, they wouldn't be able to move the books to the people that need them. Amy says that without the relationships with these organizations, the book fairies simply wouldn't be able to function.
The final segment starts with the show coming back up from break. Then Tommy moves the conversation to what the future looks like for the book fairies. Amy and Eileen explain that funding is their top priority. Funding will allow them to upgrade their current platform and allow them to fill a void in the community that even the government isn't filling today. The main form of funding for the book fairies comes through donations, Amy and Eileen explain that even the slightest donation could have a massive impact on their mission.
