Got a stack of paperbacks collecting dust? Share your love of reading by donating them to Street Books during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week!
The Student Community Engagement Center is teaming up with Street Books, a one-of-a-kind, bicycle-powered library that brings books directly to Portland’s unhoused community. Together, we’re hosting a book drive to help expand access to reading and connection for everyone.
Drop-off locations:
📍 Smith Memorial Student Union (SMSU)
- Room m103 – Hub for Service & Sustainability
-
Room m113 – SALP Clubhouse
(Both on the first-floor mezzanine) - UNST Cramer Lounge Room 117
- Urban building third floor lounge
Donations of books in good condition are welcome, fiction--especially westerns, science fiction and fantasy, horror (think, Stephen King, Anne Rice or Dean Koontz), thrillers(like James Patterson), true crime (Ann Rule)-- and anything written by often underrepresented writers-- like BIPOC, women, LGBT folks, etc,. Poetry, Non-fiction, spirituality (especially Buddhism/mindfulness), self-help, politics, history and philosophy. Books about recovery are always appreciated, as are books in Spanish. Comic books/graphic novels, unused puzzle books, blank journals and adult coloring books!
Paperbacks are much preferred as they are lighter to carry. No textbooks, please. :)
Partner Spotlight: Street Books
Street Books is a bicycle-powered library that provides books to people experiencing houselessness in Portland, fostering access to reading and community connection.
Street Books cultivates mutual relationships rooted in dignity and autonomy by showing up every week, year after year, in all kinds of weather, all around the city, to meet people where they are. They believe in the transformative capacity of books, both for the individual and collective. Books offer access to ideas, education, and liberation.
You can learn more about Street Books and their mission here.
Sign up if you want a reminder to drop off your books and/or more information about when and where to find us!
This project is open to all Portland State University students through the Student Community Engagement Center's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (Nov 17th- 21st). It is an annual program where people come together across the country to draw attention to the problems of hunger and homelessness. We'll be holding a series of events over the course of the week with several community partners, one being Oregon Food Bank with the PSU Food Pantry!