Bernie's Book Bank Founder Plans Local, National Expansion

In its first four years, Bernie’s Book Bank distributed more than two million children’s books across the region, from Zion to Chicago’s South Side.

Half of those books were donated and distributed in 2013 alone.

The numbers reflect rapid growth for the book bank, which Brian Floriani started four years ago from his own garage. And it’s a growth rate that Floriani, who is now executive director of the Lake Forest warehouse-based organization, plans to continue as he works to get quality books into the hands of every at-risk child in the Chicago area and beyond. 

By 2016, he hopes to distribute books each year to 300,000 children, “to serve every [at-risk] child in Chicagoland from birth to sixth grade,” he said.

And by that time, he plans for the organization to be bigger and better than ever. Bernie’s Book Bank leaders are in the process of securing and financing a new space for the organization. Floriani envisions a 40,000-square-foot facility that would replace the current 5,000-square-foot warehouse where books are sorted, stickered and bagged. Additional books are now stored in nearby facilities.

The larger facility, which he aims to be in place by early 2015, would also include office space and space for activities and gatherings, such as children who gather for service-oriented birthday parties at the book bank.

That will be just the beginning of his organization’s growth, if Floriani has his way.

“We want to replicate this in every major city in the country,” he said.

The operation depends on contributions from donors such as Goddard School, which gathered 44,000 books during a collection earlier this month, as well as overstock donations from publishing companies. Volunteers help the organization sort books into age categories soon after they arrive.

“We’ll distribute over 100,000 books this month,” Floriani said.

The organization’s youngest beneficiaries are identified through the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, he said. School-aged children who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches also receive bags containing six books twice each year.

Bernie’s Book Bank is named in memory of Floriani’s father, a person who “always had a book in his hand. He was always reading,” Floriani said.

“What’s been overwhelming is, we’re just the harvesters of the good work,” said Floriani, who credits the support of community donors and volunteers for the book bank’s success. “We are the most giving society in the world. We are problem solvers, and that is what has overwhelmed me,” he said.

Visit the Bernie's Book Bank website for more information and to learn how you can get involved.

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