What is Refill the Shelves?

Every year, Books for Keeps distributes 75,000+ books to over 6,000+ elementary students. Through this program, every child has the opportunity to personally select 12 new, high-interest books that they want to take home for keeps, one for every week of the summer. We do this to help inspire joyful experiences with literacy, help students maintain their academic momentum during the summer months, and expand book access across our community and beyond.

All books are provided at no cost to kids, families, or schools, thanks to YOU! Our community of donors helps make this possible, starting with our Refill the Shelves campaign each summer.

This summer, Books for Keeps has a big goal to raise $10,000 to get books back onto our shelves that we can give to kids across our community. These books will be shared through our book distribution programs, inspiring joyful experiences with literacy for kids of all ages and expanding book access for families across our community. Basically, we see this like a big ol' community book drive, and we want you to join us!

PLUS, extremely generous friends of Books for Keeps have committed to matching ALL DONATIONS up to $10,000! So, your dollars will buy twice as many books!

Other ways to get involved

Give Books: We collect new and gently-used children's book donations all year round, and any children's books donated during Refill the Shelves will be counted towards our big book goal!
Host a Kids' Book Drive: Your community can make a big impact! Consider hosting a book drive at your workplace, in your neighborhood, or online. We will accept books for all ages and count any children's books donated towards our big book goal!
Volunteer: Help us get the books ready to be shared with kids across the community! Volunteers can join us in the BFK Warehouse all summer long, helping to unpack, sort, and shelve donated books for future distribution events.

Refill the Shelves 2026

Help us get books back onto our shelves this summer!