The Great Library Refresh begins book delivery to South Lake Tahoe schools

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Imagine picking up a book in 2023 stating that "someday man will walk on the moon." One would correctly guess that the book is too old to be in a library. There are old books like this in South Lake Tahoe school libraries, and Lift Literature is on a mission to refresh those libraries with current books. Libraries are a hub for inspiration, as well as powerful and critical information. More often than not, the school library is the only place Tahoe kids have access to books.

When Melissa Uppendahl of Lift Literature found that the school libraries in South Lake Tahoe had an aging and depleted inventory, she made it the nonprofit's mission to fill the Lake Tahoe Unified School District libraries. She created "The Great Library Refresh."

With donations from the community, the first delivery of 500 books has been made to the local school libraries.

Uppendahl and Lift Literature worked with Cuppa Tahoe and the school librarians to purchase books from their wish lists.

"Melissa is a hero, she's changing lives by doing this," said Meyers Elementary Librarian Jessica Briggs. " I'm so grateful to the Marcela Foundation. All of us are so thankful."

Briggs was the librarian at Sierra House last year and moved to the Meyers campus for this school year. She said she was very surprised to find very old books at her new location and is so excited to get new books.

"It is exciting," said Briggs. She received 70 books from Lift Literature and another 30 from a Bay Area school in this first phase of The Great Library Refresh.

Books got delivered this week for the following schools:

Bijou Elementary School
Tahoe Valley Elementary School
Sierra House Elementary
Meyers Elementary School
South Tahoe Middle School
South Tahoe High School

Lift Literature is just in the beginning stages of fulfilling each of the wish lists and refreshing all school libraries. Each school librarian is creating a quarterly book order in partnership with CuppaTahoe and Lift Literature. This pace allows the schools to process the books in smaller batches, and generates excitement for reading every season!

Huge thank yous to the amazing program sponsors for making this happen:

Library Champions
The Marcella Foundation
Cuppa Tahoe

Pageturner Sponsor
Pay it Forward Project

Bookworm Sponsors
American Century Golf Tournament
Untethered Workspace
Realty World Lake Tahoe
Kiwanis Club

Community Donors
Soroptimist International
Sierra Express Carwash

And so many private families and individuals!

For more information on how to help, visit https://www.liftliterature.com/.