BUCKHANNON – Avid readers have an extra reason to count down to the weekend: The Literacy Volunteers of Upshur County’s Fall 2019 Book Sale starts this Friday.
The book sale will take place at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church on Franklin Street, starting Friday, Nov. 8 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and continuing Saturday, Nov. 9 from 8 a.m. to noon.
Director of Literacy Volunteers of Upshur County Kristy Stewart said the sale is key to raising funds for the Literacy Volunteers of Upshur County.
“It’s one of our biggest fundraisers of the year,” Stewart said. “We have two. We have one in the fall, and then we have one in the spring. Since we receive no state or federal funding, we must fundraise to keep the doors open, and this is one of our largest sources of funding.”
The books in the sale are donated throughout the year and sorted by volunteers for the sale.
“If it is a small donation, they can be dropped off at the office during office hours, but if it’s like a multiple box donation of books, then we need to be contacted [in advance] to make arrangements to accept that donation,” Stewart said.
Currently, LVUC is asking people who want to donate books to wait about a week or two until the Nov. 8 book sale is over, so the nonprofit literacy organization has a chance to reorganize after the sale.
“We don’t take magazines, catalogues, we don’t take in encyclopedias and most dictionaries we don’t take unless they are like medical dictionaries or foreign language dictionaries,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the sale has a plethora of books to choose from and most likely, something for everyone.
“You name it, we have it,” Stewart said. “We have children’s books, we have fiction, hardback and paperback, we have cookbooks, we have home health, history, autobiography, biography, we have some Amish novels, large print, local interest – whether that be West Virginia authors or about West Virginia in general. Basically, there’s too many genres for me to just think of off the top of my head.”
Prices for the books range from 10 cents to $4. Hardback fiction and nonfiction books cost $2; paperbacks are $1; mass market romance novels will be 10 cents apiece; and children’s books are $1 for paperback or hardback. Stewart said their most expensive books are their antique books for $4.
“The money we make at our book sale goes toward keeping our doors open, and we help adults, who can’t read above a third-grade level learn to read,” Stewart said. “In a way, it helps shoppers share their love of reading with those who can’t read by helping them learn to read.”
She said they also use donated books to stock the Little Free Libraries throughout Upshur County and donate them to the Christmas Store.
“We help the Christmas Store to get books into the community to help reduce the illiteracy rate because it is a cycle,” Stewart said. “If the parents don’t read, then the kids won’t read.”
Stewart said they could also always use more volunteers for the setup, sale and cleanup afterwards, and all volunteers will be able to pick out three books from the sale to take home.
The office number for the Literacy Volunteers of Upshur County is 304-472-2343 and more information can be found on their Facebook page.
