Last week’s Book Fair was a huge success. We sold more than $9,000 worth of books. The four-day event was a fundraiser for the library. Our share of the sale was about $1,800 before taxes (we don’t know the exact amount yet), plus $800 in “book profit” – books from the fair that we kept.
Literati, the company behind the fair, said we would need to sell $3,500 worth of books to qualify to hold another one next year. “We weren’t sure we’d make it,” said librarian Mari Pongkhamsing, who coordinated the event. “The high total was a happy surprise!”
In addition to buying books for their children, parents also bought many books from the teachers’ “wish list” bins – some teachers were able to refill their bins during the week because parents had bought all the books they’d set aside.
Mari used some of the book profit to fulfill teachers’ wish lists, and the other books were added to the library collection. In addition, a neighborhood realtor donated $500 for books for the library, and a grandparent donated $50 for books for Room 10, the first grade classroom that doubles as our elementary aftercare room.
Nineteen parent volunteers helped over the course of the week, and six staff members helped Mari set the fair up and take it down afterward. “Thank you to all the volunteers – and to the families who came to shop and support us!” Mari said.