Carol Davidson credits volunteerism, spirit and cooperation for last week's successful Missouri River Regional Library (MRRL) and Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) annual used book sale.
Davidson, an ABLE board member and an organizer of the book sale, said she expects final proceeds from the sale to total nearly $20,000 for MRRL and the same for ABLE. She said exact numbers won't be available for a month or so until expenses are calculated.
The sale ran March 12-15 at St. Martins Knights of Columbus Hall on Route T.
"What I would really like to stress is the volunteer hours and the cooperation of the community that assists us every year," Davidson said. "We're keeping a running tab of people we're going to send thank-yous to and we're well over a hundred people."
She said volunteers were probably upward of 150 people.
"Also, year-round book-sorting averages more than 1,000 (volunteer) hours, just keeping the books going into boxes and stacking them to have them for the sale," Davidson said.
She estimates that 1,800 to 2,000 people attended the sale, although she admits the estimate is probably too low.
"Attendance has sort of plateaued (over the years), but we have people who come from different states," Davidson said. "Our sale is very popular because it's not cherry-picked. It is what it is."
Felicia Poettgen, director of ABLE, said MRRL and ABLE are fortunate for the book sale's continued success.
"We're fortunate just because of the inventory of Kindles and Nooks out there now," she said.