Operation Northern Comfort needs volunteers to help build 100 bookshelves for kids in need

Yahoo

12-05-2025

BRIDGEPORT, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Operation Northern Comfort has less than a month to build 100 bookshelves for kids in need.
'We're quite early in the process. We just so far, have started cutting the lumber for them,' said Laurel Flanagan, CEO for Operation Northern Comfort.
It's all part of a project that began during the pandemic, after the non-profit decided to build 500 desks for kids learning from home.
'As we all know, the kids went back to school and the need for those in-home learning spaces became less. So we transitioned into building bookshelves for kids at the end of 2021,' said Flanagan.
Nearly a thousand bookshelves were built and distributed to kids in need.
'We wanted them to know that literacy was important and their education, and literacy was important to us. It was important to the whole community,' said Flanagan.
Volunteers like David Robinson are continuing that mission, volunteering their free time to build bookshelves for kids.
'Between meals and wheels, operation northern comfort and I also volunteer at Francis House, all of those some day I might need,' said Robinson.
'It's just amazing to me how much joy it brings children to have a space of their own,' said Flanagan.
Operation Northern Comfort has until the beginning of June to build 100 bookshelves for kids. The bookshelves will be distributed on June 7 at Light A Candle For Literacy event and The Black Child Book Fair on June 21.
If you are interested in helping, click here.
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