FRIENDS OF THE HUNTERDON COUNTY LIBRARY 314 State Route 12, Bldg. # 3, Flemington, New Jersey 08822 Website: www.hclibrary.us - then select Friends Email: fohclfriends@gmail.com Letter from the Co-Presidents Pamela D Amato writes: For years before my family and I moved to Hunterdon County, we d attend the FOHCL book sale. In fact, in my heart, I think the book sale was one of the reasons that convinced my bibliophilic family to move to the area. Once we got settled, joining FOHCL was a way to give back, make friends (Friends!) and feed our family book addictions. To me, FOHCL is as much a part of what makes Hunterdon special as farmland and scenic vistas. This year, as many of you know, the book sale schedule was abbreviated and we had to do the seemingly impossible: conduct book drives, transport tables, shelving, signs and other equipment to the Grange, sort the tens of thousands of donations, and be ready to greet the public in just a little over two weeks. Georgia Muhs writes: For the past few years my book drive assignment was to greet donors cars as they approached the book drive drop-off area, welcome them and give out the charitable donation forms. I would also thank them for their donation and invite them to come to the sale to replenish their now-depleted book shelves. People often joke about buying back their own books, which I know can happen as I have done it myself. These bibliophiles are not embarrassed to admit their passion for some of their treasures; some even get out of the car to hand over their bags and boxes with great care. Book parking during the Preview Sale on Friday was jam packed. At Saturday s drive this year there were times when the drop-off line was slowed down and people had to wait in line much longer than in the past. Still, of the people in almost 500 cars donating books that day, there were only two individuals that complained of the wait. When Ron or I apologized for the delay, most folks shrugged it off saying that they were happy to enjoy the lovely spring weather and were content to listen to music or talk with their passenger. Many also thanked us personally and FOHCL for volunteering our time to help them recycle their books. Another of the reasons I love our annual book sale is that on weekday mornings at 9:00 AM there are 50 or more dedicated volunteers showing up to sort and box
books. This year we saw these same folks plus others, some of them active for 2 or 3 shifts, pull the sale together in record time. Pam writes: Like Georgia, I am always amazed and inspired by the hard work and dedication of all my fellow volunteers. This year, as in years past, we even had some people recuperating from surgery who were front and center and working hard. I also heard from several volunteers who said they d initially signed up for one or two shifts and then when they saw the sheer volume of work that had to be done, decided to work the whole week to make sure it happened. During the long hours on the unforgiving cement floor, the sorters exclaimed over favorite titles being unpacked; table stockers chatted about great authors while running armloads of books to their proper categories. By the end of the day, some of us even exchanged favorite backache remedies. And just when it seemed we were too tired to unpack one more box with everything from antique Civil War commentaries to Sartre to Barbara Cartland (our donations are nothing if not eclectic), in would walk Tonie Hockenbury to set up her kitchen of crockpots and platters from which she d keep us all fed so beautifully for the weekend. For those of you who don t know her, let s just say, her incandescent smile and ebullience, not to mention her shrieks of delight, can shore up the most exhausted of us. This year s book sale was an adventure in hard work, problem solving, great conversation and shared achievement. It was a wonderful time spent with Friends. I am so proud and grateful to be a part of this group and after a nice long rest and a chance to read some of my new books, I ll be ready to dive in and help plan next year s sale. I look forward to seeing you all there again. Annual Meeting Notice Come celebrate the success of our 19 th Annual Book Sale on Wednesday, June 10 at the Hunterdon County Library Meeting Room (Route 12) at 7 PM. Books for the College Bound Scholarships, funded by our Preview Sale, will be presented and we will hold FOHCL s annual meeting and elections of our Vice President and Secretary for 2015-2016. Refreshments will be served and, in case you ve been missing your sorter and lifter Friends, they ll be there too. RSVP to 908-788-1434. The Book Sale Our 19 th Annual Book Sale truly was a sprint: In just 15 days our 200 volunteers set up The Grange for the sale, unloaded books and other items from almost 700 cars during our first ever This is only 2/3 of the books donated this year (the boxes are stacked six deep). All the rest are inside that open door. Whew!
weekend book drives, and assisted in providing a great shopping experience for many members of our Hunterdon County community. During the sale weekend, over 1,700 transactions took place; our largest was $1,500 and our smallest 50 cents. (We ll be perfecting the book drive system so no one has a long wait in line like they did on Saturday.) Our bag sale, also the first ever, was a great success. We sold over 360 bags. The parking lot at the South County Park was as full on Monday as it had been on any of the weekend days. This group, only some of the wonderful volunteers helping out this year, were there when the last box to be sorted came off the rollers American flag added in celebration. And it was only 3:08 pm on Thursday!!! There actually was time to fine-tune, something none of us thought would be possible in our schedule this year. (The photographer only wishes she could have photographed all 200 of us.) We held two gleaning sessions for nonprofit organizations and educators on Sunday and Monday afternoons. It continues to be our pleasure to provide this opportunity for these organizations and educators to take for-free any books they want to add to their libraries. Ron Hiles, our Book Sale Co-Chair, did a fantastic job on this sale, his last since he is moving with his family to Indiana at the end of May. He went above and beyond the call of duty coordinating, among other things, the moving of tables and shelves and boxes as well as the traffic into and out of the South County Park. Thanks for all your hard work, Ron!!! Hollie, our other Co-Chair, worked two jobs for these two weeks, between her full time day job and her like-full time book sale job including supervising all four of our sorting One of the sweetest items found this year was this handmade Christmas card by an unknown young artist.
evenings. She gets special appreciation for doing some of the dirtiest work (maintaining our luxury porta potties). We can only say a HUGE thank you, Hollie, for all your hard work!!! If we tried to name all our volunteers, we would surely forget someone so we just want to thank everyone who volunteered on this amazingly fun, intense, productive and profitable project. You know who you are and so do we. A special thank you goes to our retiring Romance expert Norma Batke. Thank you, Norma, for your many years of service. Nonfiction (left) and Fiction (below) are ready for the sale, as are the Children s, Media and Special Collection areas. In addition to you, our members and volunteers, we extend thanks to the following individuals and organizations that supported our 19 th Annual Book Sale with donations: The Hunterdon County community members who donated books and other items Hunterdon County Library Director and staff Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders Hunterdon County Departments: Roads and Print shop Hunterdon County Division of Parks & Recreation Hunterdon County 4-H Shop Rite 3 large deli platters, salads & ice; bag sale bags Wegman s gift card used to purchase snacks, water & drinks BJ s gift card used to purchase water Costco
Speaking of food: Tonie was amazing again this year as was Lichin. We may say this every year but it s true: they make us the best-fed volunteer organization on the planet. Thanks also to the volunteers who contributed snacks during setup, drives and sorting. The following individuals and companies made significant contributions to this project, some at reduced rates: Matt Miller, who made our clean-up go much smoother and faster Hunterdon Storage II Stow Away Hoagies & More Frank s Pizza Rental Center USA for tents, tables and chairs Digital Arts Imaging for banner signs Premier Disposal Russell Reid/Mr. John Thanks to our community newspapers for publishing press releases about our book drives and the sale as well as providing prominent placement of our advertising: Hunterdon County Democrat, Hopewell Valley News, Hunterdon Review and Bucks County Herald. Many of you heard me say that this year we were making it up as we go along. Thanks for your participation and understanding. It was another good book sale. Although all the expenses aren t in yet, we project that we will net between $45,000 and $50,000, comparable to last year; all proceeds benefit the Hunterdon County Library System. Now we all deserve to rest and relax and enjoy reading all the new books we picked up at the sale. May they last until next year. Jean E. Allured P.S. I m pleased to announce that Vickie Volyn will be taking over the newsletter this fall. It will be refreshing to have a new perspective, a new look and a new voice for our newsletter.