Laguna Hills Group Collects Thousands of Books for Early Readers

More than 12,000 books for children have been collected statewide by Laguna Hills-based California Association of Community Managers (CACM) and the Orange County United Way’s Women’s Philanthropy Fund. The books will be distributed to Think Together in Santa Ana to assist their early literacy program for disadvantaged children in Orange County. 

CACM and the Women’s Philanthropy Fund collected new or gently used picture, infant, toddler and preschool books for children ages 1 to 7. The campaign was kicked off in April and wrapped up at CACM’s annual statewide EXPO and conference at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim in late July. Hundreds of CACM members, which include community association managers as well as associate members such as attorneys, building and landscape maintenance firms and other service providers throughout California, participated in the book drive. 

According to Karen Conlon, president and CEO of CACM and chair of the Women’s Philanthropy Fund, the books will be delivered to United Way which will clean and prepare the books for Think Together to distribute to Orange County children. The books are a necessity for early literacy programs designed to bridge the gap for students who do not have access to preschool or other pre-K school readiness programs.

“The original goal by the Women’s Philanthropy Fund was to collect 5,000 books, so we are very pleased with how many books were actually collected this first year,” Conlon said. “We are very appreciative of all our CACM members who donated books in support of children’s literacy, and look forward to building the program over the next few years.”

Based in Laguna Hills, Calif., CACM was the first community association management organization in the nation to establish a California-specific educational program leading to the designation of “Certified Community Association Manager” (CCAM®) for industry professionals. CACM’s membership is composed of nearly 3,000 California-based professionals from the community association management industry. California community managers currently represent more than 46,000 associations throughout California. For more information, visit www.cacm.org or call 949-916-2226.