It was a beautiful fall day for the Birdies & Books Charity Golf Classic! We had a full field of players who competed closely for the championship trophy, and helped us raise $25,000, which equates to 25,000 bags of books distributed to at-risk children.

We'd like to thank musical guests 341 and Derrick "Suede" Stout & Friends for their beautiful music; our food and drink sponsors Wirtz Distributors, The Grand Food Center and Wisma; our event sponsors Eroom & Co., Mr. Brian Cornell, "Bernie from Gurnee" State Farm Agency, Copia Capital, Fastsigns of Gurnee, GEM Realty Capital, Jeffrey W. Krol & Associates, Ltd., Perfection Cleaning & Restoration, and United Services Disaster Cleanup and Construction. And last, we'd like to thank our volunteers who helped to make this event so successful! 

To view and download all photos from the event, go to: Birdies & Books photos.

Bernie's Book Bank facilitates the collection, processing and redistribution of quality new & gently used children's books so as to significantly increase BOOK OWNERSHIP among at-risk infants, toddlers and school age children living throughout Chicagoland.

Our goal is to be distributing 1 MILLION books per year by 2013.

berniesbookbank.org

That tells us two things: that we value books, and that our children are growing out of $3.2 billion worth of books each year! This fall, we will be significantly expanding our Book Drop Network to make it easier for residents of every community to donate outgrown children's books to BBB.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of another Book Drop Network Partner, The Menomonee Club at the Drucker Center, 1535 N. Dayton Street, in Chicago.

The Menomonee Club has been improving urban life for children on Chicago's north side for almost sixty years. Its membership is comprised of children from over 80 Chicago schools, which enables kids to stretch their friendships!

As a member of our Book Drop Network, the Menomonee Club will serve as a convenient, year-round book collection location for Bernie's Book Bank. 

"We are excited to support the great work that Bernie's Book Bank is doing for children in Chicago," said Neal Bader, Executive Director of the non-profit Menomonee Club. "Each of us has shelves of children's books in our homes - books we've loved through the years. It's easy to pass them on when you know exactly where they're going. I think that's the real beauty of Bernie's Book Bank... its ability to deliver books directly into the hands of children who need them. I know our membership will appreciate that." 

For more information about the Menomonee Club, its location and hours, visit www.menomoneeclub.org or call 312-664-4631.

On Monday, November 7, join Kiki Luthringshausen of Beauty and the Feast for a rare behind-the-scenes interview and 3-course dinner at Inovasi in Lake Bluff with Spotlight Chef John Des Rosiers. A portion of ticket sales be donated to Bernie's Book Bank! 

The Spotlight Chef series is a unique and interactive show that captures a live audience in an intimate atmosphere of the chef's restaurant. The personalized event series is designed to exclusively showcase a premier chef, restaurateur or tastemaker in the "spotlight" for a talk show type of setting, think... Inside the Actor's Studio but driven by the culinary world.

The cost is $65. To make your reservations, call 847-295-1000. More information may be found at www.beautyandherfeast.com.

The month of September was a banner one for Bernie's Book Bank. Literally hundreds of people donated 734 hours of their time to help us process books in the warehouse, manage operations in the office, and help us execute our most successful Birdies & Books Charity Golf Classic and wine tasting.