I wish to give back to save a local bookstore
Dinah
14
kidney disease
Dinah's Wish to Give Back to Save a Local Bookstore
In 2011, when Dinah was in pre-school, her parents knew something was not quite right. They took her to the children’s hospital for testing, where she was diagnosed with kidney disease at just four-years-old. Throughout her life, Dinah has had to take steroids and various medications and even have a biopsy to make sure she didn’t have cancer. Due to her kidney disease, Dinah has had to make a lot of adjustments and sacrifices, including being gluten-free, which isn’t easy for a child.
Dinah also had a tough time learning how to read as a young child. Her dad David took her to LA’s oldest independent bookstore, Chevalier’s Books, and bought her the popular kid’s book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” Back at home, David sat down with Dinah every day and had her read the book aloud to him until she could do it on her own. From that moment on, Dinah has loved to read, and she has been using reading to calm down and escape from stress, a skill that has been particularly useful during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because of her challenging childhood and guidance from her parents, Dinah knows the importance of giving back to people who need a little extra help. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, local businesses started to feel the effects of lockdown and Covid closures. When Dinah heard that her favorite bookstore Chevaliers, was in danger of closing, she wanted to help.
Dinah said she feels like she lives a privileged life, so it was important to her to give back, and she thought her wish would be the perfect way to help a spot that means so much to her. But she didn’t want to stop there. As much as Dinah wanted to help save her beloved bookstore, she also wanted her wish to impact a future generation of readers, so she wished to donate books from Chevalier’s to the kids at a local elementary school in need.
Dinah’s wish was a full community effort. With the help of a long-time Make-A-Wish volunteer, Jessica, we were connected with Mrs. Ewart, the Principal of Hollywood Elementary, the school Jessica teaches at. With the help of Chevalier’s and Mrs. Ewart, Make-A-Wish was able to arrange a book fair of sorts at the school. Dinah picked out some of her favorite books for each grade level and those books were packaged into backpacks with pencils, bookmarks, and various school supplies.
On the day of her wish, we set up a station outside at Hollywood Elementary and Dinah, her parents, her twin sister Dolores and her friend Georgia were able to hand out these book bundles to all the students at Hollywood Elementary. We also mailed out book bundles to the students still distanced-learning online at home, so everyone got to be part of Dinah’s special wish.
Mrs. Ewart let us know their school had been hit pretty hard by Covid-19 as well, so Dinah’s wish would be coming at a great time. Before schools closed for the pandemic, Hollywood Elementary had sent a few library books home with each student so they would have something to read while everyone was in quarantine. As part of Dinah’s wish, Make-A-Wish also made a $3500 donation to Chevalier’s so they will be able to refill the school library with new books.
When asked what the best part of her wish day was, Dinah said, “I really loved meeting all the kids at the school. When they said, ‘Thank you, Dinah’ it really made my heart soar. I really like little kids and it was so nice for the books to be given to kids who really needed them.”
The staff at Make-A-Wish Greater Los Angeles each picked out our favorite books and gifted them to Dinah, so she had a brand-new stack of books to dive into after her wish.
After her wish, Dinah’s parents Alix and David, said, “It was wonderful to see the entire community come together including the school, the bookstore and the Make-A-Wish staff to grant Dinah’s wish. Make-A-Wish is right here in our community helping children in southern California. And they really need support from the community to make wishes like Dinah’s happen. The impact of a wish is life-changing.”
