Does Give My Books Network Collect Board Games in Baltimore?

Yes. Give My Books Network collects board games, puzzles, and video games free from any Baltimore doorstep a Local Pick-Up Partner serves, in the very same collection as your books.

Games go in the same boxes as everything else. No separate pile, no separate trip, no separate form. A Canton family clearing a closet of games from three kids' worth of birthdays books one service day and sets the lot on the stoop.

Do Puzzles Need All Their Pieces?

A puzzle should be complete, or close to it, and the box should still close. A 1,000-piece puzzle missing forty pieces is a frustration waiting to happen for the next family.

If you counted, tape a note on the lid saying so. Nobody will check your math, but a partner sorting a hundred boxes will take your word for it, and so will the family that opens it next.

How to Pack Games and Puzzles for a Baltimore Pickup

Tape each game box shut and pack the games flat inside a larger box or a sturdy bag, then set the whole thing at the door by 8 AM.

1. Tape or rubber-band every lid. Loose pieces are the one thing that ruins a game.
2. Bag the small parts, dice, cards and tokens, inside the box.
3. Games, puzzles, books, DVDs, and CDs can all share a container. No sorting.
4. Keep the box light enough for one person to lift alone.
5. Cover the top if rain or wet snow is forecast. Cardboard on a wet marble stoop does not last long.

Where Do Donated Games and Puzzles Go?

Local Pick-Up Partners sort games offsite after collection. Many are redistributed through the Give ME Books program to after-school programs, senior centers, community centers, shelters, and family literacy nights. Some are resold, which funds the free collection.

Games with missing pieces do not travel well. Items that cannot find a second life may eventually be recycled as a last resort, and pretending otherwise would not do anybody any favors. The American Library Association's notes on book donation programs make much the same point about donations of every kind.

Why Games Move Fast in a Baltimore Winter

Baltimore gets a snow or two every year that shuts a block down completely, and a board game is what a family reaches for on the second day of it. Requests spike in exactly those weeks.

The same goes for a humid August, when the last thing anybody wants is to be outdoors. A closet of games in a Fells Point rowhouse is doing nothing in July. Somewhere in the city, an after-school program is asking for precisely that through the Give ME Books program.

Can You Combine Games With a Book Donation in Baltimore?

Games, puzzles, and video games can all be collected in the same free Baltimore pickup as your books, DVDs, CDs, and vinyl records. One service day covers the lot.

One honest note: Give My Books Network and its Local Pick-Up Partners are family businesses rather than 501(c)(3) nonprofits, so there is no tax receipt for a game or puzzle donation. What you get instead is no fee, no drive, and a closet you can walk into again.