Chicks On Lit discussion
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I know this might sound really odd but have you tried contacting the prison, maybe even the womens prison? I wonder if they would be able to help you. I imagine they don't get a lot of funding for books and such.
Jo that is a great idea!!!! I would love to do that if you decide to. Also try your YWCA or other organization designed to help women in crisis. They may have a use for them.
Jo, I can't believe you're having such a hard time while trying to do a good thing! I usually take my books to the local shelter for battered women and let them choose what they want. I also save a stack in the garage for the local book drives my neighborhood schools have at Thanksgiving. Have you considered listing them on bookmooch.com so that you can trade them with other readers for something you want?You might also want to contact educational institutions that teach English as a Second Language courses. The ones in my city are always accepting book donations.
Jo.......send me a grab bag!! I'll donate them to our local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter here....they took mine that i couldn't find a home for. What i don't want of yours I'll send them off to charity!!
Thanks Holli! I'll send you some soon! One of the local senoir places called me back this morning & said they'd love some books and haven't had any donations in a long time! and they LOVE mysteries! (Which is good since I've got a ton!) I'm going to bring them a few bags this week!
See, I tried one of the local women's shelter's last year and they weren't very receptive, to say the least! They acted as though I was trying to infiltrate the shelter as though I was working for the kind of men these women are trying to get away from! Seriously! I was so annoyed and disgusted by their response! They even acted that way the one year when I called them because I wanted to donate a Thanksgiving turkey! I sincerely hope the women they are supposed to be helping get better treatment!
I know, surprising isn't it, all these problems I'm having just trying to give some books away! (Guess people in these parts aren't used to good deeds anymore!) It's really left me shaking my head!
Inky, I haven't heard of bookmooch.com (heard of paperback swap) but I'm not sure I even want to get that involved! I just want to give them away! (Thanks for the suggestions though!)
Jo, that is so sad about the women's shelter. I can't believe that!!! It makes my heart hurt... :(
Amanda, I know what you mean. It makes me wonder what would've happened had I chosen to go to that shelter years ago when I was in a horribly abusive relationship. It's sad really! I understand they don't want to reveal the location of the shelter to protect the residents, but I offered to drop everything off at their thrift shop! I have a feeling it was because I was adamant about not wanting any of the items to be re-sold ~ I wanted the residents to be able to take what they wanted & I think that's why the people I spoke to reacted the way they did, which again is sad!
Jo I work with the local womens shelter in my area and we have to be careful on items we receive as donations. Its horrible because you are just trying to help but to protect the women they help they have some serious regulations.
But send me a bag I will donate them to our library (small town) and what they dont want they sale to raise money to buy more books.
I know what you mean... I moved from my family house 1 1/2 years ago and had stored in some big boxes lots of my paperbacks, while deciding to leave the big, thick glossy art/travel/history books at home. Well, I haven't bothered to bring the boxes in my 2-rooms flat yet, but I have a cupboard and a library full of new paperbacks already. I think I will never be able to find room for all of them... But I just CAN'T throw away or sell any book, even if I have read it tens of times (and this happens, believe me!). What about bookcrossing? Could it be a good idea?
Here in Tulsa there are 2 main charities/places that I know that re-sell them. The first being GOODWILL and the second the public library. Goodwill helps those with mental and physical disabilities train for types of jobs that they can do and in some cases give them jobs. The city/county library here does it to fund the volunteer programs and to purchase newer books in some cases. The types of things for the volunteer programs are things that they give away to the children at storytime, discounted products at a price lower than they actually purchase them for those learning English as a second language and so forth. Some of the books they buy is to help replace books that get damaged that otherwise they could not afford to replace. You may want to check those out. In some instances the DVIS or domestic vilence intervention services or something similar to help battered women and children might appreciate them as well. They may not sell them as a fundraiser but they would be very appreciated nonetheless by those who are staying in their shelters as a means of escaping their realities for a short time.
I'm not looking for them to be re-sold for any reason! I just want to give them away! I'm giving 3 or 4 bags to the Senior apt house in town tomorrow and again at the beginning of fall to give the residents time to read tomorrow's drop off!
I'm also going to try our sister town's food pantry and see what kind of response I get. (Our town has one through the Methodist Church and you'd think I called to tell them I worshipped Satan or something! So I crossed them off my list!)
I don't want to get into trading them on the book sites either. Too much involved for me right now!
I'm going to set aside the books for the Senior home tomorrow and see what that leaves me with and I'll message those who've said they'd take a bag of books!
It's unfortunate that our state has changed so much that I've been working on this since September of 2007! (But the state of our state (NJ) is a story for another time and place!)
I've contacted the local Senior Center, Nursing Homes and County Food Pantry and those who responded to me (some did not!) have said they are overwhelmed with books & not taking any for a while, though cannot tell me when to try back.
I'm going to contact our sister town's food pantry as well as our town's Methodist Church food pantry to see if they'd be willing to take any. Hopefully I hear back from them this week!
Just in case I don't: My Q to everyone here is, would any of you be interested in a bag of books?! Like a grab bag?! I've got Mystery (LOTS of those thanks to my Aunt! Lots of "Craft" mysteries), Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror, Fiction & Non, Cookbooks (a few left after the yard sale), Self-Help (some)...
My Only Condition: If I send them to you and you aren't interested in any of them OR you read them & don't want to keep them, all I ask is that you DON'T throw them away! Pass them along or donate them! Throwing away books (unless ruined somehow) is as bad as burning them in my book! (A pet peve of mine!)
I believe there's always someone who could use them who may not be able to afford to purchase them or who isn't able to frequently utilize a library. Perhaps they are able to get to their food pantry (or someone can for them) or they're able to use the library or activites room at their senior center, nursing home or assisted living facility.
So, what are your thoughts?!