As most people are aware, the Shepherdstown Community Club depends very heavily upon funds raised through two annual events: The Back Alley Garden Tour & Tea and the Legendary Book Sale. The book sale is a year-long effort that enables us to gather the books and related items from donors throughout the Eastern Panhandle when they become available. Timing is often critical in doing so, because we are contacted when people are moving or downsizing (always a stressful time) and need to immediately find a home for the books. In addition, we need the time after we pick up the books to sort and categorize them in preparation for the sale, which now extends over a two-week period in October.

For these reasons, affordable access to adequate storage is imperative. Like with everything else, inflation has significantly increased our storage cost, which greatly reduces the funds that we are able to generate, despite the generous donations and hard work of numerous volunteers.

Therefore, the purpose of this letter is to seek advice or suggestions from members of the community on how to resolve the book storage issue or, if anyone is in a position to do so, offer an unused garage or building that might serve to provide a dry place to store books as we collect them. Our longterm plan is to construct a suitable building at Morgan’s Grove Park, in which to safely store these donations. Unfortunately, it will take time to gather the resources to make that happen. We need a feasible solution to get through next October’s book sale, in the meantime.

You can reach me at 304-261-2359 or buzzz.austin@gmail.com.

Mike Austin, of Shepherdstown