The end of this year’s St. Mary’s County Friends of the Library annual book sale meant the beginning of a large community logistics effort. The result is that unsold books from the event at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds are being put to good use.
For the first time the unsold books were loaded onto trucks and transported to Books for International Goodwill (BIG) where they will in turn be packaged for shipment to countries without adequate reading materials for both adults and children.
The community effort involved the Rotary Club of Lexington Park, the honor societies of Leonardtown and St. Mary’s Ryken high schools, community services volunteers, and with sponsorship from Penske, Hewitt’s U-Haul and Best Buy.
President of the Lexington Park Rotary Robin Finnacom said she was delighted to have the opportunity to serve the county libraries with the effort. President of the Friends of the Library Louise Snell said the organization was pleased to have a way for the leftover books to be used for literacy in other parts of the world.
Monies raised during the three-day book sale by the friends, a non-profit organization, go to the support of the county library system. Books are donated by the general public throughout the year and can be dropped off in the room at the back door of Leonardtown Library during normal operating hours.
