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Community Corner

A Year Of Preparation: Volunteers, Dynamic Duo Create Book Sale Event

Friends of Lake Forest Library Book Sale co-Chairs Nancy Mieling and Sande Noble praise volunteers and the community for the sale's continuous success.

It takes one year of sorting and pricing, two dynamic women, three trucks, hundreds of volunteers, thousands of boxes of books, and an immeasurable amount of enthusiasm to put together one of the most successful book sales in the Chicago area.

The Friends of Lake Forest Library wrote the book on how to grow a successful fundraiser, and this weekend they will celebrate the 36th annual Book Sale at the

This will be the 10th year that co-Chairs Nancy Mieling and Sande Noble will watch their hard work come to fruition, They also look forward to the exhausting, yet exhilarating weekend that is ahead of them.

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Although most of the physical labor and long hours take place the week of the sale, the planning and preparation begin a full year before with sorting, pricing, and boxing the donations that are dropped off in the back of the before the books can be sold.

“We begin accepting donations a week after the sale and our volunteers sort and price the books in the lower level of the library all year," said Mieling.

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Plenty of Books

People from surrounding communities such as Deerfield, Highland Park, and Libertyville donate books, and and other schools in the area donate as well. Mieling and Noble keep track of the books with a tally system.

“We tape poster board-size tally sheets on the walls of the room that the books are stored in to keep track of how many boxes of books we have in each section, so that we can map out the floor plan at the sale,” explained Mieling.

“It’s an astonishing thing when you think about how many books that are given every year, it just keeps coming out of the community,” said Noble.

Volunteer Network

All of the sorting, pricing, boxing and tallying requires the help of many volunteers. “There are approximately 26 people on the board of the Friends of Lake Forest Library, and over the course of the year we have about 250 volunteers who help us,” said Noble.

“We keep a database of those who volunteered in years past and we send those people volunteer request cards each year. They fill them out, and we send them a card with the dates and times that we need them to help out,” added Mieling.

Lake Forest Librarian Kaye Grabbe is also a huge help, said Noble, “Kaye is bright, she knows how to liaison with the city, and she comes to our board meetings.”

Gearing Up

The month before the sale is when everything kicks into high gear. In August there are usually 15 or more volunteers in the library each day who sort and box books. Ten thousand book markers are printed, sent to local schools and handed out at parades. Advertisements are sent to Craigslist and local online news sources. Finally, three 15-foot trucks are rented to move the 3,000-plus boxes of books from the library to the recreation center.

Moving all of those heavy boxes definitely takes muscle, so the Friends of Lake Forest Library hire several men from a church in Waukegan to put the boxes on a conveyor belt in the basement of the library, load them on the truck, and unload them at the recreation center. The men also lay down a floor protector and set up the tables.

Dozens of volunteers then unpack and set up the boxes, and put up the signs so that shoppers easily can find the areas that interest them. “We couldn’t possibly do this without the volunteers. It couldn’t be done without the 200-plus volunteers,” said Noble.

“It also couldn’t be done without the people who donate the books. This is a community that reads, and they’re generous,” added Mieling.

Giving Back

The Friends of the Lake Forest Library are also generous. When the last book is sold on Sunday, they will open their doors to many charitable organizations and donate the leftover books.

“The McHenry County Defenders, an environmental organization, takes the bulk of the books. We also give books to Reading Power, Military groups, nursing homes, and disaster areas such as the Gulf Coast,” said Mieling.

The proceeds of the sale go back to the . “We talked a long time about what our mission really is and it’s to support this library,” said Noble. The library returns the favor to the community with programs for kids and adults.

The library also has used the funds to refurbish its rooms, upgrade landscaping, add art to the building, and built a room with a glass roof where children can participate in projects.

The 36th annual Book Sale runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18 — all at the Recreation Center. Saturday is "Teachers get 10 percent off", and Sunday is "Bargain Day, all books half price."

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