Book Sale A Place For Volunteers To Reconnect

By Nancy K. Crevier

Year around, approximately 35 volunteers gather twice a week in the book room to sort and organize the thousands of book donations that are dropped off for each year’s annual book sale. “They sort, price, and box the donations,” said Friends of the C.H. Booth Library President Mary Maki. Then, as the month of July approaches, when the sale is held, the volunteers increase the hours they put in.

The boxes are reorganized and categorized, loaded onto trucks, and delivered to the Reed Intermediate School (RIS), the site for the past several years of the Friends’ biggest fundraiser of the year.

This year, as in past years, those 35 dedicated workers are joined by an additional 40 volunteers who work the week prior to the sale, as well as the five days of the book sale. What is particularly wonderful, said Ms Maki, is that some of the volunteers are so dedicated that they travel many miles, just to be a part of the event.

Kaaren and Jerry Valenta volunteered at the book sale for several years before moving to Florida in 2006, from Sandy Hook. They return to their summer home in Woodbury each year, though, and still block off the Tuesday, “Bag Day,” of the annual book sale each year, to volunteer.

“Kaaren started volunteering before I did at the sale,” said Mr Valenta, Tuesday, July 12, rapidly handing out red plastic bags to shoppers crowding through the doors of RIS. “We did cashiering and some organizing at first, but then they found it hard to find volunteers for Bag Day, so we started doing that and have been doing it ever since,” he said.

The Friends’ Book Sale gives them a chance to reconnect with many people they might not see during the warmer months, now that they live in Woodbury, said Ms Valenta. “It’s so fun. We get to see all of the people we knew when we lived here. Lots of people who come on the earlier days of the sale, return on Bag Day for more bargains, so we really see everyone, it seems,” she said.

“We’re always looking for things to volunteer for that are fun, too,” added Mr Valenta.

Nancy Steiner has always lived in or near Shelton, but when she discovered the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Book Sale years ago, she pledged that one day, she would volunteer at the event.

“I had been to book sales all over the state, but when I came to this one, I knew it was the best. It is so organized, and the people are so friendly,” she said. “I would even be here on the first day, and pay to get in,” she said.

Ten years ago, when she retired from Southern New England Telephone Co., Ms Steiner kept her word and signed up to volunteer. “I take care of my disabled mother year around, so I only volunteer the week before and the week of the sale. In the beginning, I would go anywhere they wanted me to go. When the books came in, I would organize them, or whatever needed doing,” she said. Fiction is her big love, though, said Ms Steiner, who declared that the greatest thing that ever happened “was when I learned to read in first grade!” Now, she usually is in charge of unboxing, organizing, and alphabetizing the fiction section at the sale each summer.

“Our fiction is alphabetized by author, and that’s what sets this sale apart from the others,” said Ms Steiner.

It is a huge task. So five years ago, she asked her then 12-year-old grandson, Adam Kocurek, if he wanted to help out.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” recalled Adam, “and I never looked back.” Like his grandmother, Adam is an avid reader. Having the first look at the books and CDs donated is a plus to volunteering, he said, as is the time he gets to spend with his grandmother; but it is the people he works with and the people who come to the sale that are the real draw for him.

“You’re always surrounded by intelligent people. These volunteers are people who have truly lived their years. And,” he said, “there are plenty of characters who pass through here, too.”

Now a rising senior at Shelton High School, Adam contends that post high school years will not see him falter in his dedication to this book sale. Next year, he said, he even plans to submit an idea for the design and quote that gets printed on T-shirts worn by volunteers at the sale.

Ms Steiner and Adam have become a real team over the years. “Adam and I can get through crate loads of books and get them alphabetized and on the tables in no time,” boasted Ms Steiner. She agreed that it is mainly the camaraderie of the volunteers that brings her back each year.

“It is the wonderful, dedicated bunch of volunteers that I love, and everyone who comes in is a book lover, too,” Ms Steiner said. She loves, too, that as everyone works to get the sale ready for opening day, they make recommendations to each other. “It’s a great chance to brush up against authors you wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said.

It is a huge team effort, and every year when she returns, she finds that the year around volunteers have refined the process to make it even better.

“Saturday [opening day] is the best day,” said Ms Steiner. “That moment before they open the doors, all of the books are perfect and in order. You look around and all is calm…”

“Then the doors open,” Adam finished her sentence, “and it’s Armageddon!”

Kelley Johnson probably wins the prize for coming the farthest to work the book sale, said Mary Maki. Every summer, Ms Johnson travels from San Jose, Calif., where she now lives and works, to join her father Ken Johnson, of Newtown, in volunteering at the sale.

“I’ve been coming back for the past five years. It’s something that my dad and I do together,” said Ms Johnson, who is “a product of Newtown, grades K through 12.”

Because she is now a West Coast resident, she plans her vacation time to be a longer stretch. That time always corresponds with the Friends’ Annual Book Sale, she said.

“I’ve been doing this for 10 or 15 years,” said Mr Johnson, originally with his wife, Ruby, then welcoming the time with his daughter. “Plus, I’m a book lover. Joanne Zang, who originated this book sale idea, nailed me originally to work here. Usually, I’m in charge of the cash box these days,” Mr Johnson said.

The company she works for in California does a fair amount of community work, said Ms Johnson, but she has found none of the events to be as well organized as the Newtown book sale. “You’re not wasting any of your time. You know you are going to be utilized, and that makes a big difference to me,” she said.

She loves working as a counter at the sale. “When people bring the books up, I count them out and tally it up. Then they take the total to the cash out. It’s neat that you see the same people from year to year. It is not unusual for me to see the parents of my childhood friends here, and I love that,” Ms Johnson said. “I’ve made a lot of friends here, too.”

“Newtown is blessed to have such a loyal group of people who love books and the C.H. Booth Library,” said Ms Maki. “I am honored to be counted as one of them.”