The Chinese American Association of Cambridge (CAAC) kicked off its 5th AAPI Book Drive in the beginning of May, marking the start of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.
The fundraising period runs from May 2025 through February 2026. Every dollar raised will go toward purchasing new books by AAPI authors, which will be donated to schools in Cambridge. Donations are accepted via PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle. Visit our donation page for further details on how to contribute.
Highlights from Past Book Drives
Since 2021, CAAC has held four AAPI book drives, raising a total of $31,741 and donating over 2,240 books:
- 2021-2022 School Year: Raised $12,374 and donated 955 books to 33 schools in Cambridge and Somerville. (CPS instagram post)
- 2022-2023 School Year: Raised $5,538.62:
- $4,341.66 for Cambridge, donating 270 books across 17 CPS schools.
- $1,241.31 for Somerville, with funds currently being processed for donation by our partner, the Somerville Asian Family Network (SAFN).
- 2023-2024 School Year: Raised $8,419.94, donating 702 books and sponsoring a talk by author Kelly Yang for all 4th and 5th graders in CPS schools. (CPS facebook and instagram posts)
- 2024-2025 School Year: Raised $5,409.17, donating around 340 books to CPS (the books are still under processing at the point of writing this note, more details to come).
Acknowledgments
Our heartfelt thanks to individual donors and corporate/university sponsors, including:
- MIT (2nd, 3rd and 4th drives)
- Splice Realty – Park Hou Group (1st and 3rd and 4th drives)
- Zoe’s Chinese Restaurant (风味亭中餐馆)
- Andrew Low @ RE/MAX Destiny
- Sumiao Hunan Kitchen (sponsor of the 2nd and 3rd drives)
- UCA Community Foundation
- Dr. Hao Wang
- Moderna ASPIRE
- Pfizer and Global Asian Alliance
- Google Cambridge
- Sanofi
Fundraising status of the current book drive (5th, 2025/2026)