The "VSLive! Gives Back" program gives conference participants an opportunity to make a positive contribution to the host community in the short amount of time they spend there.
Giving Back Austin
The Visual Studio Live! Austin Conference is proud to announce its alliance with Bookspring as its "VSLive! Gives Back" partner.
Bookspring
Launching children into a world of reading
BookSpring is the only Central Texas organization focusing on building literacy skills and the motivation to read through increasing home libraries and reading aloud activities for low-income children. With over 45 years of experience, BookSpring has taken the best practices of our founding national programs and adapted them to the special needs of Central Texas low-income families. We have created a continuum of early literacy interventions that support brain development, family interaction, skill building and the motivation to read in children from birth through age 12.
Our programs both increase awareness of the importance of reading while providing the tools to do so. To maximize impact, we partner with medical clinics, schools, and other non-profits to work through their programs with book distributions, supplemental activities, and events designed to educate, inspire, and build intrinsic motivation to read.
How You Can Help
Research shows children growing up in homes with at least 20 books get 3 more years of education than children from bookless homes. Your donation will help build home libraries, which contribute to success in school and in life.
Conference participants are invited to donate in-kind donations of second hand books for infants, toddlers, preschool, and elementary school aged children that will directly benefit children in the Austin area. Here is a list of in-kind book donations from Bookspring:
Yes, please!
- Board books
- Picture books
- Elementary chapter books
- Kid’s fiction and non-fiction
- Teen and adult fiction (published in the last 5 years)
- Clean and unmarked
- Bi-lingual Spanish
- Braille and less common languages
No, thanks.
- Retired library books
- Textbooks
- Encyclopedias
- Magazines
- Used activity or coloring
- Loose pages
- Missing or creased covers
- Soiled or moldy
Look for the Gives Back donation box sign near the Visual Studio Live! registration desk, or ask a staff member how you can help.
VSLive! Conference Bag Donation
Visual Studio Live! provides bags to all attendees to carry laptops, notepads, pens, and other pertinent items around while you are at the conference. The bags can also serve as useful souvenirs to take back home or to the office to remind you about the great conference you just attended. But not everyone needs a new backpack.
If you don’t need a new bag (or don’t want to take the bag home after using it for the week) and prefer it gets donated to a good cause, you can place your bag in the Gives Back Box and your conference bag will be donated to Bookspring.
For more information on the "VSLive! Gives Back" program or how you can help, contact Joyce Jackson at [email protected] or 949.296.9840.