FAIR Fund Chicago

03/23/2026

Tomorrow, 3/24 from 3PM - 6PM stop by Jeni's West Loop! 25% of your purchase will be donated to FAIR Fund Chicago! We're working on securing donations to fund the entire book fair for a CPS elementary school with 430 kids! We want to put books into all their hands! It's CPS Spring Break! They deserve ice cream! Bring the whole family! Please share this everywhere!

01/26/2026

Holy Moly! We're almost there. All 240 kids at Kipling Elementary will get a voucher to choose books at their school book fair! Donation link in comments!

01/21/2026

A very nice article from Block Club Chicago about the work we're doing. Please share and help us on our mission!

FAIR Fund Chicago, a nonprofit started by Bookie's owner Keith Lewis, is making it possible for every student at school book fairs to buy books.

01/10/2026

So close to being able to provide every one of the 240 students at Kipling Elementary School in Chicago with a voucher to spend on books at their school book fair!

12/24/2025

FAIR Fund Chicago is close to meeting our first goal of funding the ENTIRE book fair for Kipling Elementary School's 240 students. We are short just 45 $25 vouchers. Any amount helps students at this school come to the book fair and pick out a stack of books to take home! There will be a link in the comments. Please follow it and help us hit our goal and the next. Support literacy and kids! 195 kids will already be able to choose their own books at their school's book fair! And the donation to the school will be significant as well!

12/02/2025

Giving Tuesday!
240 kids. $25 each. $6,000 goal.
Kipling Elementary is 88% low-income — and we’ve committed to giving every student a book fair voucher.

We’ve raised $2,100. Help us close the gap.

secure.givelively.org/donate/fair-fund-chicago

11/18/2025

The board has selected a school for our first donation of book fair vouchers—Rudyard Kipling Elementary! So far, we have enough for 102 $25 vouchers! We want to fund the entire fair for 240 students. We've got a way to go until we hit our goal for the March 24-26 school book fair! Please donate at https://secure.givelively.org/donate/fair-fund-chicago ! Everything helps! Please share this post to increase our reach. Thank you!

10/06/2025

76 kids will be able to receive vouchers toward $25 in books as of this afternoon! Only 27 people have donated so far. Imagine what we can accomplish with more people getting involved. Thank you so much to those who have donated! We can't wait to show you pictures of the kids you've helped!

Too often, students attend book fairs at their own schools but leave empty-handed—unable to buy books while classmates browse and choose freely. This quiet exclusion erodes the joy of literacy and reinforces inequity.

10/01/2025

Please help if you can. Everything helps put books into kids' hands.

As owner of Bookie’s New and Used Books, Keith Lewis has seen firsthand the disappointment of children when they walk away from their school’s book fair empty-handed.

09/22/2025

A great start, but still so much more to do! As of this posting, 28 students at an upcoming book fair will be able to choose and purchase a stack of books!

FAIR Fund Chicago provides book vouchers so that every student attending school book fairs—hosted by Bookie’s Bookstore, a longtime South Side literacy partner—can cho...

09/17/2025

In April, federal funds earmarked to help low-income students get books from a school book fair were pulled right in the middle of the fair. That moment made it clear: I had to take action so this would never happen again.

Even before that instance, I'd seen kids walk away from the fairs emptyhanded. It's a crushing thing to witness.

That's why I started FAIR Fund Chicago—FAIR stands for "for Access and Inclusion in Reading." FAIR Fund Chicago provides vouchers for students so that finances are never a barrier to literacy and reading.
People asked at the time how they could help. It was, unfortunately, too late for the students at that school, but it's not too late now. We're right at the start of book fair season again, and we're going to be working with schools to ensure that every single student can get books from the fair.

In addition to helping the students, you will be helping neighborhood schools as well. As you know from the giant check presentations we've done, Bookie's donates a large percentage of the proceeds of the book fairs directly to the schools. These vouchers will enable us to increase these donations, and they will enable Bookie's to extend its book fairs to schools for which it would normally not be worthwhile to even host book fairs.

If you would like to help us build the foundation for this effort, we are now an officially-registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Please share. Every repost helps us reach more schools, more students, and more stories.

You can donate online:
https://secure.givelively.org/donate/fair-fund-chicago

Or just text BOOKFAIRS to 44-321 to get started.

FAIR Fund Chicago provides book vouchers so that every student attending school book fairs—hosted by Bookie’s Bookstore, a longtime South Side literacy partner—can cho...

09/17/2025

FAIR Fund Chicago provides book vouchers so that every student attending school book fairs—hosted by Bookie’s Bookstore, a longtime South Side literacy partner—can choose books freely, confidently, and without exception.

We remove cost as a barrier to literacy, ensuring every student walks away with stories they’ve chosen themselves—books that reflect their curiosity, culture, and voice.

And when more students are able to choose books, schools benefit too: Bookie’s donates a substantial portion of book fair revenue directly to the host schools, strengthening local literacy ecosystems with every purchase.