When Brian Floriani saw kids learning from photocopies, he founded Bernie’s Book Bank in honor of his dad, giving bags of books to children who need them most! Here, he shares his story with Woman’s World.

During his first day as a reading paraprofessional at a struggling Chicago school, Brian Floriani was stunned when he saw teachers making copies of book pages and stapling them together.

This is no way for kids to learn to read, thought Brian. Dad would be horrified!

Brian’s dad, Bernie Floriani, was the son of an immigrant who’d studied and worked his way to a Ph.D. in reading education. Eventually, Bernie became head of reading instruction for the entire state of Maryland.

Brian, a talented golfer, started a career as a caddie and went on to run a school helping golf instructors learn to teach. But Bernie died in 2005, and at his funeral, Brian listened to folks share how his dad had made a difference in their lives. 

When I die, will I have done anything significant? Brian wondered. His question soon changed everything.

Inspired by his dad, Brian left his golfing career and took a position as a reading paraprofessional, where he discovered kids didn’t have books at home.

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Determined to do more, Brian tapped his credit card for $5,000 and launched a foundation in his father’s name: Bernie’s Book Bank.

He placed book donation bins in several Starbucks locations, and one donor reached out to tell Brian about a company with excess book inventory. “They’ve tossed four pallets of children’s books into their dumpster.”

Brian and a friend rescued the books, and between them and the other donations, he had plenty to start giving them away.

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“There’s something here to interest any child,” he told teachers as he offered bags of books.

“They were a hit,” teachers told Brian, describing how the kids had traded books and given reports on what they’d read.

Afterward, donations surged, and Bernie’s Book Bank grew.

Now, 16 years later, Bernie’s Book Bank has distributed over 30 million books throughout Chicago, Milwaukee and along Florida’s Suncoast.

Thank-you letters arrive daily from teachers, parents and the kids themselves. “Book giveaway day is their favorite day of the school year,” more than one principal has told Brian.

“My father’s dream was that every child have a library of books,” says Brian. “I’m doing everything I can to make that dream come true.”