The Book Thing is a Baltimore charity that gives away thousands and thousands of books. The basement they operate out of has been sold and they may lose their lease, and they need new space. Amy, a Book Thing volunteer, has blogged a request for help — check it out and let her know if you've got a big empty space in Baltimore they can have.
But now we realize we have it pretty good, since it looks as if we may lose our space at any time. The building that has housed TBT for all this time has been sold to a new owner, and we haven't the foggiest idea whether or not he'll let us stay. If we can't find a new location, we'll have to close. It almost brings me to tears to think about it. We touch so many lives… our customers range from middle class parents bringing their children, to college students bringing themselves, hoping to save on textbooks, to schoolteachers from impoverished schools, to the curators of prison and homeless shelter libraries. Quite a number of our 'patrons' ship books to their homelands, the Philippines and South Africa (for example), because books are hard to come by there. And we are touched, as volunteers, because we get to do something good for the world—and it's an indescribable feeling that you can only get through exchanging your hard labor for others' happiness and well-being.
Help me find a new location, and save this dusty Baltimore jewel for everyone's sake!
We need, basically:
* 4,000 sq ft+
* heat
* ideally, a/c as well
* a bathroom
* handicap access
* free or very cheap
(Thanks, Amy!)
