Q&A with Marlene Humphry
Residence: Byron
Volunteer: AAUW book sale chair
Q: What's special this year about the Houston-Peach Branch of the American Association of University Women's book sale?
A: The books and the purpose make it special every year, but this year is our 50th book sale so that makes it really remarkable.
Q: That's a lot of years and a lot of books. Have you got the sale down pat by now?
A: It's a lot of work, but we've got it down pretty well. I learned that for several years early on, the Washington Memorial Library in Macon was one of our best suppliers of donated books, but they finally got the idea a book sale was a good idea and started their own. They asked us how to do it and we helped them start. It was similar here in Houston County with the Friends of the Library sale. But we were the first to do a sale.
Q: Any idea how well that first sale went?
A: Yes, and we've come a long way. The AAUW made $200 that first year and thought that was great. Now we average $5,000 a year, sometimes more. We made $7,000 one year when a sci-fi collector donated his collection to us. The word got out we were selling his books.
Q: What do you do with the money?
A: The book sale is our only fundraiser. We'd rather sell a lot of books than wash a lot of cars or bake a lot of cookies. Half of what we raise goes to our national organization to provide scholarships and fellowships for women going into nontraditional career fields. The rest stays local for our projects.
Q: Such as?
A: We adopt one or two Title I schools each year and support the Reading is Fundamental program. Three times a year we give a book to every student and they get to pick their own book, not just what the teacher wants them to have. It's their book, their choice.
We've done that since 1974. RIF used to be federally funded and they would give us matching funds, but that went away. We still try to get grants and other funds to add to our book sale proceeds.
Q: You give them new books?
A: Yes, new books.
Q: What else?
A: Like just lately we put on a candidate forum. That doesn't cost much but there are expenses.
Q: How does AAUW get books for the sale?
A: We have book barrels at places like the Houston Galleria mall and at Happy Hour's recycling center. We have a lot of people call us with large donations and we will go pick those up. Of course, it's too late for that this year, but we would love it for next year.
Q: Anything this year like the science fiction collection you mentioned?
A: Not science fiction in particular, but we've had some wonderful donations and one from a notable person who's moving from the area. They donated 100 boxes of books of a wide variety from religion to gardening, nonfiction and fiction. Just an unbelievable collection. And cookbooks. There are some amazing cookbooks in that same donation. There's a lot of variety in the sale, all well-priced. Very well.
Q: When and where is the sale?
A: It's at the Houston County Galleria mall. There will be a sneak preview Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m., where people can come early and get first crack at the books. There's a $5 admission for that. Then we're open on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. for free. On Friday and Saturday, admission is free and the hours Friday are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturday they're 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Q: How long have you been involved with the book sale and AAUW here?
A: I've been in it here for the past 30 years and have held every position and always been on or chaired the book sale committee. It's a labor of love.
Q: I'd imagine along with the hard work there's been some funny goings-on. True?
A: Well, I think it's interesting I have a nice, hardbound history book of our AAUW branch covering the first 30 years. Almost all of us have a paperback copy of it, but I have the only hardbound. I found it at our book sale! I saw it and thought, "I guess I better buy that." No one has seen another bound copy.
And this, we use an awful lot of boxes that we collect, sort and store books in. A whole lot of them are liquor bottle boxes. We had a gentleman notice all the liquor boxes and said, "You ladies must have a lot of fun at your meetings." We do have fun, just not that sort of fun. We call the sale our FUNd raiser, but we sure are thankful for the help we get from people, the donors, and from the Northside High School Junior ROTC and the Peach County High School Navy Junior ROTC. They carry a lot of book boxes around for us. Wow, that's such a help.
Answers may have been edited for length and clarity. Compiled by Michael W. Pannell.
This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Q&A with Marlene Humphry ."