I am one of three co-chairs who head up the Campus Advisory Board (CAB) at the University of Pennsylvania. Let me tell you that being at the helm of a campus advisory board is not an easy thing to do – the best comparison I can come up with is that it is kind of like being a taxi driver. I often refer to myself as a CAB driver and let me just say, I’m glad that I’m not the only driver working to provide books for kids in the West Philadelphia community!

Although the road is pretty straight – kids need books and our CAB grants books to the programs serving these kids – there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome. For example, getting campus tutoring groups “on board” with our CAB and registered as a recipient group is sometimes a frustrating task. Other times our CAB stops rolling for awhile (like when midterms and finals roll around – aka rush hour) and it takes a few pushes to get it moving again.

Going through the potholes and detours can sometimes be rough, but we are so glad to have an awesome CAB mechanic, Nicole Thompson, the Campus Advisory Board Manager at First Book’s headquarters who always helps us with tune ups and gets us on the road again. The rewards for overcoming these obstacles can be seen in the excitement and anticipation of the kids when they get to great new books to read with their tutors and take home to keep.

We have had great experiences learning to drive the CAB in our community and have made great connections to various organizations on campus. We’ve helped to add brand new books to various events held by different organizations and even held events of our own!

At the heart of West Philadelphia, we know there are many kids in need and hope to improve our CAB and deliver more books these kids. It may not always be a smooth ride, but I’m glad to be a CAB driver and make more books a reality for kids in need. Do you have any suggestions for how we could improve our CAB?

For more information, visit our Web site at: http://www.firstbook.org/upenn.