Sibs team up to find novel way to give back

Ruhi Kaneria | The Chronicle

The magic of reading a childhood classic for the first time is made possible through the efforts of both Big and Little Sibs working together on a book drive. The Little Sibs Book Drive is more than just a donation project – it is a mission to provide kids across the city with access to books.  

Little Sibs is a service-oriented program for elementary, intermediate, and middle school students, similar to the Students Involving and Befriending Students (SIBS) club at Mason High School (MHS).  It was created by Jill Hartsock, a Mason Intermediate (MI) gifted program teacher. She created a Girls In Leadership program and it expanded into a service project for both girls and boys, which formed the current Little Sibs. 

“We modeled it after the Mason High School SIBS program because my oldest son was involved in SIBS at the time, and we felt that it would be a great way for our kids to be mentored by the high schoolers and former students of mine,” Hartsock said.  

Hartsock partnered with Katie Droder, a former second and third-grade teacher at Mason, to further develop the Little Sibs program. Droder connected Hartsock to Queen City Book Bank, a non-profit organization in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their mission is to develop community literacy through book drives and Little Free Libraries. The Little Sibs’ first collection over the summer collected 200 books. After seeing that success, Hartsock planned to have a second collection over the school year. 

“We decided that right now, during the winter, is a great time to clean everything out in our houses and get refreshed for the new year,” Hartsock said. “It is so easy for us to go to our bookshelves and just pick out books that are in good condition for any age from infants to adults.”

What began as a small service idea quickly grew into a larger movement, thanks to the involvement of the Big SIBS, or kids from Mason High School, and their collaboration with Queen City Book Bank.  The SIBS club was created to help foster authentic relationships between students in the high school. 

Max Gogul, a Junior SIBS Board member, was especially excited to help give back to the community. 

“I love Mason a lot,” Gogul said. “I’ve lived here my whole life, so doing stuff like this with people that I love and the people that I work with – it’s an amazing experience for me.” 

Although the book drive was originally established for the Little Sibs at MI by Hartsock, the Big SIBS saw an opportunity to expand its reach. After hearing about the initiative at a meeting, the high schoolers stepped in and helped broaden its impact on the middle and high schools to bring in more donations and engage more students. Gogul adds that the tight relationship the SIBS already have with the younger kids made the decision to help out even easier. 

“We wanted to step in and help and implement our abilities because we have a much wider field of influence here at the high school,” Gogul said. “We also really love working with these kids and being role models for them.”  

A key partnership in the initiative has been Queen City Book Bank. Queen City Book Bank has helped with collecting donations as well as providing practical support such as a truck and mascot for the March ‘Bookfest’ field day celebration the Big SIBS are planning. Junior SIBS Board member Elle Riva resonated with their mission. 

“Queen City Book Bank [accepts donations for] gently used books to give to kids [and adults] in underprivileged areas who don’t necessarily have books,” Riva said. “They also have their Amazon wish list and that goes to kids in hospitals because they can’t have all the germs that can come with used books. That is what Queen City Book Bank does, and our job is to do as much as we can for them as possible.” 

Organizing the book drive has come with challenges for a project this scale and across several schools. From coordinating with school administration on physical donation bin locations to communicating with Queen City Book Bank, the process has required patience and persistence. For Riva, the Little Sibs Book Drive has helped her strengthen her interpersonal skills. 

“We’re trying to do these big ideas that require a lot of emails, a lot of asking, and a lot of batting our eyelashes and begging the administration to let us do things,” Riva said. 

Despite these challenges, Gogul believes that this project is important for the younger students because it is an eye-opening experience about different parts of the community. 

 “I think it gives them kind of a sense of the other side of the community that they don’t see as much,” Gogul said. ”At Mason, we are a super fortunate bunch, so seeing the other side of that and people that don’t have as many readily available resources has impacted us and the way we view things.” 

For Riva, donating and giving back has been a part of her childhood. Riva’s mom was an elementary school teacher who worked in Title 1 and charter schools so Riva is used to making goodie bags and donating her old clothes to her mom’s students. 

“There were always times in my life where we were giving and I know what impact that can have because I have seen it and I have watched it,” Riva said. “I like to think that is also the impact that we are making by those kids getting a book and I’m excited about it since reading has been a big part of my life with my mom being a teacher.”

Through receiving books, the SIBS hope that children can explore new literature and expand their learning. Reading played a significant role in Gogul’s childhood and he hopes the initiative will offer similar opportunities to others. 

“I think that reading helps you build relationships and understand other people’s perspectives so we want to give those opportunities to as many people as we can,” Gogul said. “With the amount of books that we already have received, we have covered different perspectives for them to read – nonfiction, fiction – so hopefully [it will] inspire them to be a little bit more creative and show them what else there is.” 

In addition to helping younger students branch out and gain perspective, the SIBS hope that service becomes integrated into their lives. 

“We talk about how service is so good for the soul and we focus a lot on how that is an okay feeling that you can be happy that you did something for somebody else and that’s not a selfish feeling,” Riva said. “It’s so magical to watch these kids have service become part of their lives and then hopefully carry that as they grow up.”   

Hartsock adds that involvement in the service program teaches the kids that people any age can lead and help others. 

“For the kids, it is important for them to realize that a kid their same age not too far away can have a very different lifestyle so this allows them to share that experience of getting lost in a book or gaining empathy through reading stories about different people,” Hartsock said. 

Through keeping several donation pathways open, the SIBS hope to spread their impact throughout the community. 

“We just want to give these opportunities to as many people as we can,” Gogul said. 

While it is just the beginning for the Little Sibs Book Drive, the SIBS hope to turn it into a larger, annual tradition. For the Little Sibs, older SIBS, Board members and teachers, the book drive is a way to create opportunities and strengthen their connections to the community. 

“Service is a win-win for everybody,” Hartsock said. “The world needs more service project opportunities.”