Friends of Beebe 2016 Book Sale: Thanks 100 Times Over
That’s how many volunteers (well 94 this year) it takes to pull off a 3 day book sale. This year
marked number 45 and we welcomed back many familiar faces and were happy to see new volunteers
too. Thanks to Katharine Weiner for implementing a great new web based sign up system. I got very good
feedback from almost everyone.
The move night went well despite starting out rainy in the a.m. Troop 701 sent helpers John, Tom and
Mike for setting up at the church
A book brigade hauled all the stored boxes from the
Sherman›s basement (this is why we need better long
term storage space) then went to even more stored in
the garage.
Boxes piled up at the Baptist Church and swarms of sorters descended on the piles like bees to nectar. A
last minute donation of over 2000 amazing books, comics, pamphlets etc at Thursday noon kept us sorting
to 5pm when it was time to wrap up and start taking memberships at the door so no one had to waste a
second when they came in. Thursday is always a mad house with dealers diving in and volunteer box packers valiantly keep up with the backlog of boxes
to be counted and sealed. Cashiers worked 3 abreast until a lull
arrived at 8pm. We always get great feedback on how organized we all are. So all the bags and boxes handed out by helpers on the floor as well constantly moving books up for better
visibility contributed
to our success.
Friday was pleasant
and many non-members said they appreciated having a night time to come now.
Membership Chair, David Knudsen (below), was there to check
on member status and process new members.
Sat. was another gorgeous day and crowds ebbed and flowed all
day (see slide show) until the last straggler express shock that
we closed at 2 p.m Even with 6 non-profit groups taking selected .remainders
and 24 more volunteers helping to pack up books for
the following Sat at Festival by the Lake and hauling,
driving books back to the Sherman’s it felt a bit short for
help. We locked up the church at 6:22 and called it a day.
Whether you were able to work for a few hours or all
week we thank everyone so much because it does take so
many helping hands. We range from looking like a well
oiled machine to slightly controlled chaos but it always
works out and we have fun too.
Special shout outs to Emily (below), our youngest volunteer who’s growing up with the book sale - a very stalwart volunteer!
Kudos to no-longer-kids who’ve come back to help: Chris Skeldon came back after
his graduation to help pack up. Paul Maschhoff worked all week then caught a
train back into Boston, (he reminisced when there were only VHS in the movie
section and now we have none). Kim Tolleson and Jane Carrick, who gets the distance award for coming home from Miami, were recruited last minute.
Thank you also to all the spouses, fiances and friends who found themselves volunteered by a Friend of Beebe.
The book sale, along with our memberships, are the two main revenue sources for
the Friends. The success of the 2016 Book Sale shows there are still plenty of people reading old-fashion books along with their online downloads, streaming etc.