Books for Kids Project

母爱桥三座桥之一是贫困救助之桥。MBL从2004年成立起便开始构建和逐步完善Books for Kids（B4K）项目。至2023年MBL支助了28所中国贫困地区的乡村小学创建图书角，以此鼓励孩子们从阅读中了解他们无法感知的世界，帮助留守儿童种植理想，接受教育，以便他们能摆脱无知与贫困。

The third bridge of MBL is poverty alleviation. Since its establishment in 2004, MBL started building and refining the Books for Kids (B4K) program. By 2023, MBL has supported 28 rural elementary schools in impoverished areas of China to build reading corners, in order to encourage children to learn about the world they cannot perceive through reading, and help left-behind children find their dreams and receive an education so that they can escape from ignorance and poverty.

B4K项目长期以来得到了海内外广泛的支持，在中国境内诸多中小学、出版社、书店与城市中的学童家庭，积极响应MBL的感召，向MBLB4K每年调研选定的中国贫困地区的留守儿童所在的乡村小学捐赠图书、学习用品、玩具、课堂取暖设备。

The B4K program has long been widely supported in China and abroad. Many primary and secondary schools, publishers, bookstores, and families of schoolchildren in cities across China have responded positively to MBL’s call. They  have donated books, school supplies, toys, and classroom heating equipment to rural elementary schools in impoverished areas of China where left-behind children live. These schools are selected annually by MBL’s B4K program after careful research.

母爱桥的主席托笔*伊迪在此期间三次组织西方文学访华团赴中国，与中国出版界、书店、作者、翻译者进行面对面交流，并号召他的签约作家以及合作出版社向母爱桥国际图书馆以及城乡教师捐赠多语种书籍。2017年母爱桥主席托笔*伊迪因病去世，依照他的遗愿，他生前用过的英式办公桌椅，以及他收藏的签约作家们的著作，被一并运至南京MBL中国志愿者中心，在那里设立了“母爱桥Toby Eady”图书馆，以此纪念Toby对母爱桥以及中西文化交流所做出的贡献。

During this period, MBL’s president, Toby Eady, organized three missions to China, bringing people working in the field of Western literature to China to have face-to-face conversations with Chinese publishers, bookstores, authors, and translators. He also called on his contracted authors and partner publishers to donate multilingual books to the MBL International Library and teachers in urban and rural areas of China. In 2017, Toby Eady passed away due to illness. In accordance with his wishes, MBL transported the English desk and chair he once used, as well as the collection of books written by his contracted authors to the MBL China Volunteer Center in Nanjing, where they set up the “MBL Toby Eady Library” to commemorate Toby’s contributions to MBL and to the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures.

母爱桥的B4K项目在疫情后重新启动，并获得了英国驻华重庆领事馆和中国雪漠文化团队的大力支持。MBL中国志愿者中心正在积极疏通被疫情更变阻塞的救助渠道，以便将书籍、学习用品，以及贫困地区儿童急需的生活用品尽快地送达。

MBL’s B4K program was relaunched after the pandemic with the great support of the British Consulate in Chongqing and the Xue Mo Cultural Team in China. MBL China Volunteer Center is actively working to restore the channels of aid that were cut off during the pandemic, so that books, school supplies, and much-needed daily necessities for children in impoverished areas can be delivered as soon as possible.