Natasha started a book drive, and in 5 years gave 250,000 books across US and Africa

In 2021, Natasha Agarwal was an eighth-grader worried that too many children did not have books at home. Five years later, the school drive she started has become BelieveNBooks, a youth-led nonprofit that has donated more than 250,000 books and reached over 50,000 children in the United States and Africa.

The idea took shape during the COVID-19 pandemic, after Agarwal saw reports about children across the United States who had little or no access to books at home. Because books had always surrounded her, she began thinking about how to pass on those she had already read.

Agarwal organized a book drive at her school with friends. They collected about 3,000 books and donated them to the Guadalupe Center in Florida. The response convinced her that the project could grow, leading her to establish BelieveNBooks as a nonprofit.

Partnerships helped the organization expand beyond its first community. Its work has grown through volunteers, community book drives and relationships with groups serving children and families. Toolkits with outreach templates, branding materials and checklists also allow volunteers to organize drives without building a new system each time.

Agarwal has written a children’s book and helped build a broader network around the project. BelieveNBooks also launched the PageTurner reading program at the Guadalupe Center, extending the effort beyond collecting books and toward helping children access books they can read and keep.

“

Too many children did not have books at home.