 TORONTO — When Emma Friedman celebrated her bat mitzvah in April, she wanted to give something back to the community in the form of a mitzvah project.
Emma Friedman
Emma, 13, an avid reader and writer, set her sights on the Children’s Book Bank in Regent Park in Toronto. The Book Bank, which was established in 2008, accepts donations of new and gently used books for children aged two to 12 who are from low-income families.
To date, Emma has collected approximately 1,600 books.
“[One day] my dad and I were reading the paper and he noticed an article about the book bank. That’s how we decided to take part in this project,” she said.
Emma set to work quickly, soliciting donations from her school, Robbins Hebrew Academy, Bathurst campus, as well as Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School, Toronto Heschel School and the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto. Her synagogue, Beth Tzedec Congregation, also took part, sending out a flier Emma created for the project with their newsletter.
When asked why she wanted to donate to Children’s Book Bank, Emma mentioned her love of reading and the importance of every child having access to books.
“This is a charity I really feel for, and it’s something I want to stick with,” she said. “[The] small things are so important, but a lot of us take them for granted… While I was collecting books, I looked at so many memories – all children [should] have these memories.
“I’m very happy with the amount [of books] that we’ve collected, and I’m even happier that books are still coming in.”
Kim Beatty, founder and executive director of the Children’s Book Bank, said she is grateful for the contribution Emma is making.
“It’s an extraordinary act of commitment and generosity on [Emma’s] part that we appreciate enormously. It’s also a wonderful behaviour for role modelling for other children,” Beatty said, hailing Emma as an “ambassador for her generation.”
To make a donation to Emma’s book collection project, e-mail her father, Michael Friedman, at
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Children’s books and monetary donations can also be dropped off directly at the Children’s Book Bank, at 350 Berkeley St. in downtown Toronto.
For more information on the Children’s Book Bank, visit www.childrensbookbank.com.
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