Bernie's Book Bank celebrates construction of new facility in Glendale

GLENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Bernie's Book Bank is celebrating the start of construction on its new 30,000-square-foot facility in Glendale. 

This past spring, we took you to Bernie's original location outside of Chicago. Since it started, the organization has given away 30-million books and is excited to expand right here. 

"The response we have gotten in Milwaukee has been way better than I ever could have dreamed of," said founder Brian Floriani.

Floriani founded Bernie's Book Bank out of his garage 16 years ago. It's grown steadily ever since. 

The mission is to help kids build their own at-home libraries. This new facility will eventually allow Bernie's Book Bank to reach 100,000 kids in the Greater Milwaukee area.

"Book ownership has been proven research to be critical to reading readiness and reading proficiency," Floriani said. "It's a solvable problem. The fact that 61% of low-income households in America have zero books in them is unacceptable to us. We want to own that problem and be the solution."

"The local facility will be here for all members of the community to come and volunteer and impacting the rest of the community," said executive director in Greater Milwaukee, Jenna Renno. 

With construction underway, Bernie's Book Bank is hoping to open the Milwaukee location in May. 

Right now, people can drop off books at all Town Bank locations.