The Kindle Classroom Project is expanding.

Would you like to volunteer to help out?

Lately, when people hear about the Kindle Classroom Project, they want to know more about my “team.” They use the second-person-plural, as in, “How do you all manage more than 1,000 Kindles?” They’re shocked when I tell them the KCP is a one-person operation (plus a kind army of friends and family who work tirelessly at Kindle Parties).

To regain their composure, they ask, “So you do this full time, then?” It’s a common question. A new teacher at Envision Academy assumed that when students called me “the Kindle guy,” that meant running the KCP was my job. Nope. All the work I do on the Kindle Classroom Project is done outside of business hours.

I humbly announce that it’s time to ask for some help.

With the recent donation of 458 Kindles (thank you, Worldreader!), the size and scope of the program have exploded. The demand is high, too. In just a few weeks, I’m beginning a pilot in three new schools in Oakland. Two additional schools want whole-school implementation in the 2017-18 school year. The sky’s the limit.

About 100 Kindles, part of the gargantuan Worldreader donation.

With all this growth, I’m coming to terms on two things: (1) I no longer can do this alone; (2) I can’t pay anyone (yet) to help me.

Therefore, Would you like to volunteer for the Kindle Classroom Project? If you love to read, and if you care about the reading lives of young people in Oakland and San Francisco, you could be a great match. Why not try it out?

The KCP needs help in the following areas:

Buying books for students. Students request books every day. The KCP’s pledge is to honor their request by the next day. This means checking the website every night, buying books on Amazon (with funds donated by generous KCP supporters), and notifying the student of the good news. If you’re interested in helping out with book buying, you would need a computer and 15 minutes a day.

Prepping donated Kindles for students. Kindles arrive from across the country every day, and it takes about 10-20 minutes to prep each one for students. This job involves resetting the Kindle to factory settings, setting up parental controls, adding the Kindle to the website, and a few other secret steps. If you’re interested in prepping Kindles, you would need a computer and about 1-2 hours a week.

(Perhaps) helping to build a nonprofit organization. If you have a legal background and can assist with whether it makes sense if the Kindle Classroom Project becomes a 501c3 nonprofit organization, that would be very helpful, too. I know that there are pros and cons to moving in this direction, so it would be great to get some professional advice.

Please let me know if you’re interested in any of these volunteer opportunities! Let me know by sending me a note: the easiest way is clicking on the “Email us” button in the lower-right corner of this page. Thank you. With your help, the KCP can keep growing in 2017 and meeting the reading needs of Bay Area students!

What do you think?