When my friend Chiquita became the Director of The Well, on numerous occasions, she suggested that I should volunteer. I asked for a tour of the facility and I noticed that there were many bags of clothing to be sorted and shopping carts full of books to be placed on the shelves but I made no commitment to volunteer.
Impressed by the mission, I began donating clothing, food, household items, and began attending and supporting fundraisers, and I kept thinking about the books, which were still in the shopping carts each time I would visit.
After Christmas, when I took I several items to donate, I stopped by the office to chat with Chiquita and was met with, "When are you going to volunteer?" I replied, "I could be doing the books." She answered, "Oh, the Board would have to approve that." Shocked, I asked, "The Board has to decide whether someone can organize the books from those shopping carts?" She gasped, "Oh, I thought you meant to do the bookkeeping!" We laughed at the miscommunication. Obviously "doing the books" was not the best phrase I could have used!
After several weeks of "doing the books", I have all the books organized, labeled and placed, not by the Dewey Decimal System, but by what I consider to be user-friendly categories: REFERENCE, FICTION, NON-FICTION, REFERENCE, HEALTH, DIET, COOKBOOKS, BABY CARE, HISTORY, SELF-HELP, RELIGION, HUMOR, and CLASSICS.
Last Thursday, I placed To Kill A Mockingbird in the CLASSICS section. On Tuesday, when I went to volunteer, I noticed the book was gone and I was touched, because I thought, "Someone heard about Harper Lee dying and got the book because of that." On Thursday a man asked, "Have you ever seen that book To Kill A Mockingbird?" He and I spoke at length about the book and Ms. Lee.
Although it's sad that her dying is the way that will inspire some to read the book--or see the movie--it is still gratifying.
1 comment:
Strother Martin: "What we have here is a failure to communicate!" ML
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