Ginger Young, Book Harvest founder and executive director
I just returned from a busy day at the Book Harvest office.
That statement gives me such delight that I’m going to repeat it: I just returned from a busy day at the Book Harvest office.
If you are one of the hundreds of book donors and volunteers who have worked alongside me over the past two years, you’ll know why that simple fact is so thrilling. After two years of running our operations from my garage and out of the backs of various vehicles, Book Harvest this month moved into our very first office. And, wow, is it ever a fantastic one!
We are located in a wonderful, cheery, bright 1000-square-foot space in the same building as Guglhupf Bakery and Restaurant in Durham (2706 Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard). Finally, we have a place for staff and interns to meet and work, for volunteers to sort and sticker all those donated books, for our liaisons to pick up books with which to restock our shelves. After just a few days the books are already flowing in and out, and we are busy planning for a dynamite summer connecting thousands of books to local kids through our Books on Break program.
This is our starter office; we are on a month-to-month lease, thanks to the kindness of our landlord Claudia. Meanwhile, the excellent folks at Capitol Broadcasting are donating warehouse space to accommodate all those thousands of donated books. We feel so fortunate, and so buoyed by our partnerships with others who share our dream of books for all kids.
Soon, we will begin the process of searching for a long-term home for our young organization and its big dreams – one that can consolidate our workspace and our book inventory and that can enable us to do the hard work it will take to close the book gap in the Triangle. But for now, we are basking in the gratitude and accomplishment of having taken this important next step.
And now, here is something important to mark on your calendar: we will be holding our first ever open house Monday, May 20, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on the patio at Guglhupf. Stop by, tour our office, learn about all the cool things we are doing, and lift a glass. If you are there at 6:15, you’ll get to see the world premiere of our fabulous new video, made for us by Carrboro’s own Figure 8 Films.
Of course, stop by the office anytime. We’ll be bustling with activity soon, and we love visitors!
Happy reading, everyone.
Comments