On March 9th we are partnering with Augusta University, Medical College of Georgia, and the Augusta Community Hub for Innovation to host the annual Literacy is Health Books for Shay event.  This event has grown over the years into an amazing service event for our local community.  Our goal for Smile for Shay is to keep Shaylin's memory and impact alive by performing acts of kindness in her name.  While investigating the needs of the CSRA for projects Chasity reached out to the teacher group at her alma mater Augusta University to find out if our organization could help with a book drive they were attempting to start.  We always told Shaylin that "readers are leaders" and Shaylin was a voracious reader that always read way above her grade level, so we knew this was a mission that would be important to her.  This is how Books for Shay started. It has grown steadily over the years and we are incredibly excited to be hosting another event.  In years past these events were hosted at local Richmond County elementary schools, this year we are going to be hosting at the Augusta Community Hub.

This year Smile for Shay has a goal of collecting FOUR THOUSAND new or gently used books for the book fair.  How can you get involved?

• Donate your new or gently used books. This is a chance for you to share the books that impacted your childhood with others, you can drop them off with us or at one of the donation locations that will be announced throughout the month.  Also if you would like you can purchase books and have them shipped directly to us.
• Volunteer to coordinate a donation location.  We have had great success with local schools, small businesses, and churches participating and sharing our book drives!
• Share about our book drive on social media, there are people out there with books they no longer use let them know about our mission so we can put those books to good use.
• Lead a fundraiser for Smile for Shay/Books for Shay or donate.  All money raised during January through February will be used to purchase books for this event.

• ← All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul