Sometimes change happens quickly. Hurricane Katrina, August 2005 — That was a mind-blowing storm that took out everything in its path. Living here in Southern California, we are so spoiled by our weather. Nothing too extreme and I like it that way. At the time, I just felt very moved to do something. I was at a point of loss. I couldn’t go and build homes or administer medical care. I didn’t have a lot of money to send. Surely, I could help someone out there.

I have always loved libraries and books. They are an integral part of our society and a record of our culture. I worked in my high school library and I still take my kids to the library today. So the light bulb went on and I knew that I could help recreate a library by getting books out to Louisiana or Mississippi. A logical spot for me to start was to ask my son’s scout troop to donate books and to get the word out to neighbors. It worked! We ended up having 1,700 lbs. of books, gift cards for Borders and Barnes and Noble, and Home Depot. I got UPS to donate 1,000 lbs. of shipping and a shipping company to discount their rate by 75%. A local church, St. John’s Lutheran in Orange, CA, paid the cost of shipping and a neighbor to help me drive the big truck up to Los Angeles to get the 5,000 books on their way.

But their path was not as straight as I had planned. I learned all about the ins and outs of working with an infrastructure that had been wiped off the face of the earth. I was able to get a temporary phone number to the Hancock Library off of Craigslist. This number was actually one of the few working numbers for miles around, so people would answer and then go look around town to find who you needed to talk to. We tried at first to send all the books to the Hancock Public Libraries, but they just couldn’t take them in yet as the facilities were not in place. They were busy trying to dry out books and then find a place to store them until their buildings were repaired. So instead, they got gift cards for ordering new books when they were ready.

The people at the Hancock Library got me in touch with a librarian from Pearlington, Mississippi, which was a shared library for the Charles B. Murphy Elementary School and community. This gal was a joy to work with, and as I soon found out they were suffering so much that books would not be what they needed so early on — so off went the Home Depot gift cards, so they could buy building materials for shelves, seating, a microwave, and a Christmas tree!

Jeanne then led me to the books’ final destination: Picayune, Mississippi. These books would come to serve an entirely different purpose, but were wanted and loved just the same. The folks at Heart of America were putting on children’s camps to help the kids that had been displaced. I couldn’t think of anything more comforting than a child getting a book, sitting quietly and getting lost in the fantasy of a story. The kids were able to take the books home from camp — many to temporary trailers — to let other kids read them and then keep the books. The joy of reading was spread to many young hearts that needed encouragement and escape. I felt very satisfied with the culmination of this book recycle project.

Sometimes change happens slowly. I found out that this week, six years later, the Pearlington Library is celebrating its grand re-opening! Congratulations to the entire crew at the Hancock Public Libraries — your new buildings are lovely. I am sure my husband is very relieved that we did not store all those books for six years!