Maple Grove Volunteers Help with Books for Border Kids

Books for Border Kids is a Twin Cities area program designed to deliver new books to kids in detention centers at the southern U.S. border.

Early childhood specialist Ada Alden says the kids will suffer long-lasting effects from being separated from their parents.

“We know that those children . . . will be permanently damaged,” she says. “And their brain development has been arrested because of this flagrant act.”

Primrose Early Childhood Center owner Joe Piket agrees. His company donated $500 to Books for Border Kids. That money will be used to buy Spanish-language books from two Twin Cities area book stores. Those stores will deliver the books to an organizer in New Mexico. From there, they’ll get delivered to the imprisoned kids.

Piket says kids need a nurturing environment they aren’t getting in the detention centers.

“By sending these books, ” he says, “we’re hoping that we can at least make that environment a little bit more pleasant.”

Alden agrees. “I have to do something. I know this is wrong,” she says. “This is some action I can take, though minimal, to make a difference.”

The Books for Border Kids campaign runs through October 31. If you’d like to help, go to their website where you can choose a bookstore to donate to. You can specify which books get sent with your money, or you can let the bookstore choose.

Maple Grove