Irene Steinberg Book Giveaway at Shine Afterschool Program

Yesterday afternoon the children of the Shine Afterschool Program at Hostos Elementary School in Yonkers were given the opportunity to choose half a dozen books each from over 2,500 books at our end of year Book Giveaway. These books, all in excellent condition, were donated by the Irene Steinberg Book Club of Scarsdale in memory of the Steinberg family, who passed away on New Year’s Eve in a plane crash while on vacation in Costa Rica.

The book drive was organized be the members of the Irene Steinberg Book Club including Naomi Talish, Vanessa Brosgol, Valerie Malsch, Michelle DeLong, Melissa Berridge, Lori Losardo, Lisa Nelson, Linda Wetchler, Jill Hyman and Erika Radin.

Linda Wetchler described her feelings watching the children choose their books: “It’s thrilling to see these kids pick books, and then open them up and read them the second they get them. They are smiling and sharing them with the other kids.” She said she heard one child ask: “Are they really for free?”

Members of the Scarsdale community were asked to leave books at various drop-off points throughout the town, and the books were collected over a period of several weeks. The Book Club then put stickers in each book labeling them as part of the “Steinberg Memorial Book Drive”.

The members of the book club wished to honor the Steinberg family’s memory by donating the books to the literacy organization JCY-Westchester Community Partners because two of the Steinberg sons, William and Zachary Steinberg, were devoted volunteers. Zachary started the Reading Buddies After School Club at Scarsdale High School with a few friends. The club currently supports 40 volunteers in White Plains elementary schools. JCY-Westchester Community Partners runs the Shine Afterschool Program.

Janice-Lubin Kirschner, Senior Director of JCY-Westchester Community Partners, praised the effort and its effects: “Standing here watching these excited children choose which books they want to take is uplifting and confirms their interest in learning. What a wonderful partnership with the Irene Steinberg Book Club, to have them here watching the books collected read by all these children!”