Sunday, August 06, 2006

Book Donation

I haven't been on for a while because I am trying to get ready to move. The first step is to empty my house and prepare it for sale. For all of my life I have been collecting books and my fiancee estimated that I had 30,000. I don't think it was that many, but it was quite a few.

I have boxed most of the books (I am taking about 1,000 to my new house)... this has been a massive undertaking. I came up with about 40 boxes in the first few months of packing them. I donated some to churches, libraries, Goodwill in Westminster, Goodwill in Owings Mills (after they argued with me about taking them).. .. finally, I decided to box all remaining books and donate them at one time to some worthy organization. But which one?

After many many calls and lots and lots of advice, I talked to someone in the Baltimore Salvation Army who was willing to have them picked up. I told them that I had about 80 boxes of books. They scheduled me four times and finally, yesterday, they showed up with a massive truck.

They were surprised to find that I had 83 boxes on my back patio (down a hill.... I had warned them), 22 boxes in my basement, and 7 at the front door. There were two young men and they were not happy at first about the amount of work they would have to do. Using a dolly they brought and one I had, they tried to take books from the back and up the hill. Impossible job.

I rang my neighbor's doorbell to ask if they could bring the truck down their driveway, so they would have a straight shot to the truck and wouldn't have to contend with the hill. The neighbor wasn't home, so, not wanting the S.A. guys to leave without the books, I told them to bring the truck down into the neighbor's driveway anyway.

My neighbor hasn't been very happy with me since I complained about his hound dog bellowing from 7:30 am until 5:30 pm every day outside my window, so I was apprehensive when I saw his big pickup truck suddenly appear. But, he was real good about it. So, the guys continued to load the truck.... with only the 80 boxes they had expected.. however, I began to carry two boxes at a time by hand as they worked and they must have felt sorry for an old bastard like me risking another heart attack or sun stroke, and they finally ended up taking all 112 boxes of books.

I estimate that there were around 5,000 books (hardbacks and paperbacks) in the boxes. Some books I paid 10 cents for at yard sales, some I paid over $100 for at book stores. There were a couple of first editions mixed in.. and a couple of encyclopedia year books.. but no encyclopedias. Those will have to be disposed of some other way.

Earlier, when I donated seven boxes of books at the Owings Mills Goodwill, they gave me a big hard time.. but they finally took them. As I drove away, I saw them throwing the boxes in their garbage bins!

What has happened to the love of books? You can hardly give them away. Has TV and video games taken over? Many people I know do not have very many books in their homes. Our local newspaper interviews celebrities and always asks what book they are currently reading. Most are not reading any.. some are reading magazines instead.. some have no time to read other that work-related books. Some TV shows (like Leno's) have "Man on the street" type segments in which they might ask questions that readers could definitely answer.. the people they ask, sometimes college students do not know even basic information and can't answer questions intelligently. What does this say for our educational system? How can someone get into college without having a little basic knowledge?

St. John's College in Annapolis has the famous books study program. What a great idea.. why can't other colleges copy the program?

Books... I love them.

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