Aunt Mary’s Storybook serves 17 correctional facilities in Illinois: 6 county jails, 10 state prisons, and 1 federal prison. Many of these facilities are visited once each month, and some even multiple times each month. With our vast expansion over the past several years, the need for new and like-new children’s books is greater than ever.

Please consider leading a book drive to benefit Aunt Mary’s Storybook at Companions Journeying Together. Your civic, corporate, university, or church group will find this particularly rewarding; the books you donate will be placed directly in the hands of low-income children living across the state of Illinois. In addition to the book, the child receives an audio recording of their incarcerated parent reading from the book, as well as a short personal message.

Check out our book donation guide. We have drop-off locations in North Aurora and Joliet. If you’re located near one of the facilities in which we serve, we may also be able to arrange pick-up from your location.

Thanks!

Thank you to the following groups who have organized book drives for us in the past few years:
– Christ the King Catholic Church (Moline, Illinois)
– Congregational Church of Batavia (Batavia, Illinois)
– Diocese of Joliet – Justice & Peace Ministry (Joliet, Illinois)
– Glenbrook South High School (Glenview, Illinois)
– Kiwanis Club of St. Charles (St. Charles, Illinois)
– Presbyterian Women in the Synod of Lincoln Trails
– Shorewood Glen (Shorewood, Illinois)
– St. Pius X Church (Stickney, Illinois)
– Urban Village Church (Chicago, Illinois)
– University of St. Francis – Criminal Justice & Pre-Law Society (Joliet, Illinois)

Ready to host a book drive? Get in touch!