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Dear Friend of Reader To Reader, I hope you enjoy this newsletter about the Reader To Reader Book Project. Our success is very much due to your donations of books, postage money, and most of all your generous spirit. Please forward this newsletter and help us spread the word. I want to tell you about a most enjoyable success story that we recently had. A few weeks ago I received a call from David Hamm, owner of Half Moon Books in Northampton (a wonderful used bookstore you have to visit), and he told me he had just previewed that night’s used book auction which is held at a local hotel. He asked me whether I would be interested in complete set of the Journal of Negro History. I practically leaped through the phone. This was an amazing find in that it was comprised of more than 50 original leather-bound volumes that ran from all the way from 1916 to date. Reprint sets of these volumes sell for thousands, and a quick search of the Internet revealed that only a few complete original sets were available for sale, at any price, and those that were for sale were in much poorer condition. Imagine opening the 1916 volume and it looks like it was printed yesterday. I asked him to bid on it for us and made a quick call to Dr. Bobby R. Henderson, Library Director at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. A bit of history on Bethune-Cookman College. In 1904, Bethune-Cookman College was founded by a very determined young black woman, Mary McLeod Bethune, as the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls. The school evolved into a junior college by 1931 and became known as Bethune-Cookman College. It later joined the United Negro College Fund and is now a preeminent 4-year college that has graduated more than 11,900 students since 1943. Back to our story. I asked Dr. Henderson if he would like an original complete set of the Journal of Negro History and this time it was his turn to leap through the phone. “How much do I have to pay for it?” he asked, obviously willing to sell the library furniture if needed. “We want to donate it to you if we can get it at auction,” I told him. I promised to call him if we prevailed. That evening David Hamm went to the book auction as a man on a mission. When my phone rang the next day I eagerly awaited word on whether these prized books would really become a prized addition to Bethune-Cookman’s Carl S. Swisher Library. David told me that there had been several other bidders but that yes we had prevailed. “I decided I was not going to be outbid,” he confided, and yes, the books were ours for $1,600. I sat there both elated and stunned. You know, in all the excitement it never occurred to me how much these books would cost. $1,600 is a lot of money. I put on a bit of a brave face and said, “That’s terrific!” I truly thought it was, but the money was still spinning through my head. Then David told me that he had paid for the complete set and that we could trade some books with him to work off the purchase price. (A side note: We have often traded books with Half Moon Books as this allows us to broaden the types of books we can accept in donation, as those that don’t fit our needs can be traded for store credit. So, if you have books that you want to donate but don’t think they are right for school libraries K-12 and college, remember that we may be able to trade them.) Anyway, a mountain of light mysteries, perfect for summer reading, that we procured at the end of a friends of a library book sale has now paid down the balance. As for the leather-bound Journal of Negro History, we immediately boxed it up and it recently arrived at Bethune-Cookman College. A short note from Bethune-Cookman’s Dr. Henderson:
Our special thanks to David Hamm for making this all possible. You truly are a wonderful friend and supporter of Reader To Reader. That’s not the only excitement we had this month. I am so pleased to tell you about some very special book donations made possible by a grant from United Bank. The United Bank grant enabled us to purchase special book collections for 20 school libraries in the Pioneer Valley that give kids grades K-12 the history of money and lessons on investing. The grade school book sets include titles such as Follow the Money, in which a newly minted quarter narrates the story of currency, and If You Made a Million, which explores earning, spending, saving and borrowing money. The high school book sets explore the concepts of saving and investing with titles such as The Young Investor: Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow, and Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids. None of the Springfield and Holyoke, MA schools had much of anything in this subject area and the response was immediate and enthusiastic. Here are two letters I would like to share with you.
I just want to note that with this United Bank grant Reader To Reader entered a new phase. This was the first time we have been able to supply a large group of schools with brand new book collections that specifically fill an area of need. Hopefully, it will happen much more in the future. Lastly this month, I am so pleased to tell you that actor and philanthropist Paul Newman has donated $5,000 to Reader To Reader in support of our work in poor rural schools in Mississippi. Paul Newman has a long history of philanthropy and has donated over $150 million dollars to charity through his Newman’s Own Foundation. This donation is the first we have ever received that specifically funds our work in Mississippi. These schools are some of our nation’s poorest and Mr. Newman’s donation will allow us to ship thousands more books to revitalize their school libraries. So as you enjoy Newman’s Own salad dressing know that along with a delicious salad you really are helping very worthy causes. Thank you for reading this newsletter. Until next month, Sincerely,
David Mazor Please help us with a tax-deductible donation. Here are just a few of our recent book shipments: Washington Elementary, Springfield, MA
Durant High School, Durant, MS
Jefferson High School, Portland, OR
Navajo Pine High School, Navajo, NM
Tohono O’odham Community College, Sells, AZ
Greensboro West High School, Greensboro, MS
Holyoke High School, Holyoke, MA
And that's just the tip of the iceberg! |