Each week, staff writer Meredith Moss writes about non-profit organizations in our region and their specific needs. If you have a wish list you’d like to share with our readers, contact Meredith: MMoss@coxohio.com
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Four local non-profit organizations — the Humane Society of Greater Dayton, Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, The Human Race Theatre Company and the House of Bread Community Kitchen — will receive monies raised by a new organization created by and for book lovers.
“The mission of the Book Fair Foundation, Inc. is to receive and collect donated books which we resell through an annual book fair and other channels in order to raise money for a variety of charitable interests,” explains executive director Larkin Vonalt. “In addition, we also redistribute donated books to schools, clinics, nursing homes, soup kitchens, the county jail, and other entities where books are needed.”
The group also supplies books to Dave Hurwitz for his rolling free-book mobile which you’ve seen around town.
The organization is in the process of collecting, sorting and pricing books and will sell them at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds on Nov. 13-16. “We are bound together by our deep love of books,” Vonalt says.
A bit of history
Many of our readers will remember the group, Friends of Planned Parenthood, that for many years collected books for the annual Planned Parenthood Book Sale at the Fairgrounds.
“Over the course of four decades, they raised over $2 million but after the 2015 Book Sale, it became increasingly apparent that both Planned Parenthood and Friends of Planned Parenthood were unhappy in the arrangement and so we separated, re-organized as a 501(c)(3)corporation,” explains Vonalt.
The new group is working out of the “The Book Loft,” 2181 Embury Park Road in Dayton. It’s near the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.
“People drop off books there, but we also offer a collection service that goes directly to a donor’s home — and we’ll even pack the books if necessary,” says Vonalt. “Additionally we have two round-ups during the year, one in May and one in August, which are advertised in the Dayton Daily News and on WYSO to encourage people to bring us their books during a few hours on a specific Saturday morning.”
Here’s what they need:
- All kinds of books including cookbooks, handicraft books, fiction, nonfiction, history, travel, geography, religious, children's books
- Magazines
- Encyclopedias
- Jigsaw puzzles
- CDs
VHS tapes
Vinyl recordsS
Games
DVDs
The next Book Round-Up is slated for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22. There will be volunteers on hand to help you unload books, provide receipts, etc.
Locations for the Book Round Up include:
- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 33 W. Dixon, Oakwood
- David's UCC, 170 W. David Road, Kettering
- Harmony Creek UCC, 5280 Bigger Road, Centerville
- Polk Grove UCC, 9190 Frederick Pike, Englewood
- Miami Valley Unitarian, 8690 Yankee Road, Centerville
- Trinity UCC, 821 N. Central, Fairborn
- First United Methodist Church, 60 E. North St., Springboro
- Siebenthaler Garden Center, 3001 Catalpa Drive, Dayton
- Beavercreek Senior Center, 3868 Dayton-Xenia Road, Beavercreek
The rest of the year the Book Loft is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and from 3-7 p.m. on Wednesday. There is a Library-style book drop there for 24-hour drop-off. The telephone number is (937) 999-4491.
The group welcomes volunteers. “There are a wide variety of opportunities — they can come for one or two days a week, but it could also be a commitment of as little as an hour a month, if that’s all someone can spare,” says Vonalt. ” Our driver could really use a hand with pick-ups as well.”
For more information, check out http://daytonbookfair.com or (
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