Books for Soldiers

Books for Soldiers is a Friends of the Library project for sending books to our men and women serving in all our armed forces overseas. They make requests on a website; we, as official volunteers, search that site and fill requests where we are able from our surplus donated books. The need is great in some isolated posts, and our efforts are greatly appreciated.

From mid June 2010 to mid June 2011 we have sent 191 boxes, containing 142 CD’s or DVD’s, 2,795 books, and a number of magazines. Unfortunately, due to illness, computer
problems, and other things several volunteers have had to slow down their efforts this spring. Since mid April we have only been able to send 20 boxes, with 293 books.

All boxes are sent media mail with donated postage – the Friends cannot spend their earnings on anything but library needs. We are always in need of postage money – for the past year postage receipts totaled $1,107. You can help by sending a check to: Friends of the Library, Books for Soldiers, 504 N. Cusick Street, Maryville TN 37804.

You can also help, if you have as little as three hours a month to spare, by volunteering to send books. Please contact Vivian Selecman, 379-2568 or email to booksforsoldiers@bcfol.org for more information.

JAN 26  “Thank you so much for the books you sent.  They were greatly appreciated by myself and fellow Airmen here at …  I am handing them out at the mailroom where I work and they are happily received.  You guys are doing a great job there in Maryville TN.  I applaud you for your spirit of giving back to the community.  God bless you.”
JAN 28  “In God’s grace and love, I greet you and all your loved ones.  Thank you so much for sending us your loving support.  I received your books.  It is very good for us.  Since we have not had any entertainment for the recreation of our soldiers the books are a good method for them to spend their free time productively.  Once I put them in the MWR center our soldiers took a book each away.
          Every day here we are challenged by enemies and also heavy mission.  However our troops are brave and very proud of being here to fight for the country.  Our mighty God is always with us . . . . With your prayer and loving support I am doing my best to serve and take care of the troops here.  I pray you wo be surrounded by God’s great grace and many blessings” 
FEB. 1   “Thank you very much for the books.  It was great to get some more reading items sent over there, there’s a lot of book passing back-n-forth over here from running out of stuff to read to pass the time.  It’s awesome knowing that there are people taking time to support what we’re doing and making sure we’re not forgotten.  It would be sweet if more public libraries in towns all over the states had an operation like ya’lls.  Being able to run a book recycling program, book sales, and using profits for fixing up children’s sections and giving back to the community like that.  Not to mention what you are doing for us troops over here. Ya’ll are role models for the rest of the country . . well thanks again for remembering us over here and me and the joes over here appreciate the books.”
FEB 10   “I just wanted to express my gratitude to you all for the books and dvds you sent. I am a Sergeant and I passed the books and dvds around to the others in my unit.  We are two months into our year-long tour . . . We all work everyday of the week monitoring our communications equipment so we do a lot of reading to while away the hours.  Please pass on our thanks to everyone involved”
FEB 15  “I wanted to thank you very much for the kind gift of books…..I know this gift will greatly brighten my time here in Iraq, and all my friends.  I wish and hope your days are filled with the joy and happiness that you so kindly grant to others.”
MARCH 8  I’d like to sincerely thank the Blount County Tennessee Friends of the Library for their package of books, DC and DVD.  I was additionally gratified as I’ve been through Mryville before when I lived in Southern Middle Tennessee and miss it terribly.  Ho how I especially miss the Smoky Mountains and our condo outside Pigeon Forge.
          I intend on only keeping the awesome Bible and after I’ve perused the books and recorded the CD onto my laptop I will donate them to the learning center . . .   Thanks again and God Bless you . . . I sincerely got a lump in my throat when I received your package and felt like a child at Christmas opening the package. . . .”

A few years ago, someone in South Carolina saw some National Guard friends deployed overseas just as he was preparing to move. He had several boxes of books he didn’t want to move so he sent them to those friends. As others noticed and he began to receive requests for specific books, this grew into a project undertaken by his church. It has now grown into a website where any US troops can post a request for books and other materials. Individuals who wish to help fill these requests must fill out an application and be certified by a Notary Public to gain access to troop requests.

Through the generosity of donors in our community the Friends of the Library receive many duplicate copies and paperbacks of popular books. So we became a certified volunteer. Our volunteers search the website for troop requests, then search the bookshelves in the basement for donated books that can fill these requests. They usually fill group requests of a general nature, such as; “my platoon would appreciate books, magazines, DVD movies and/or games for recreation during downtime”. Each box includes a form letter telling a little about Blount County and our library and a personal note of appreciation for the work our troops are doing.  We have filled requests for cookbooks (Army cook wanting to improve!!), personal finance, starting a business, and maintaining family relationships at a distance.
 

We have sent children’s books to several units that requested them so parents could be taped and webcast reading to their children. More units are obtaining recording equipment and sending both book and CD to the child.  What a wonderful way to stay in touch. We sent books, coloring books and games to a hospital for the waiting room for visiting children.

The Friends of the Library cannot spend any of their money for purposes not directly related to library needs. So this program is run entirely through donations to cover postage. At the quarterly book sales donation boxes are set on the table and people asked to donate a dollar or two when they purchase books.  Some of our more generous donors are thanked in the box included on this page.

We receive thank you notes, both through the US mail and through Friends’ e-mail. Units have sent letters, certificates of appreciation, and even an American flag. A bulletin board with some of these thank you notes is on display at each book sale. Many thank you notes are posted directly to the booksforsoldiers website (www.booksforsoldiers.com). According to these notes, knowing that the people in this country stand behind our armed forces personnel is deeply appreciated by those who are deployed. They are impressed and pleased that total strangers would think of them and send care packages to them.

You can support this program in two important ways. You can send a check to the BCFOL at 504 N. Cusick St, Maryville TN, 37804 with a note “books for soldiers postage donation”, or you can become a volunteer. Volunteers must follow certain procedures, and must be willing to spend 2-3 hours once or twice a month. If you are interested, please contact Vivian Selecman at 379-2568, or email booksforsoldiers@bcfol.org .

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