It’s hard to believe that we’re about to break ground on the renovation and expansion of the Negril Library knowing that so many books, furniture and technology are already funded through the awesome efforts of Pamie and David, not to mention the generosity of their thoroughly cool Dewey donors… it was truly an amazing achievement! A special shout out to Kate Drenckham who introduced us to Dewey, or Dewey to us. She and her entire wedding party were definitely in the vanguard supporting the work of the Foundation through newly-wed and wedding guest activism.

Random acts of action are rare and special. The Foundation seems to be an exceptionally lucky beneficiary. Think of all these folks who have never even been to Jamaica who were mobilized and motivated by the random action that defines Dewey (well, not exactly RANDOM action… the action was well-conceived and incredibly effective, but ACTION, not just kindness… though kindness is really nice too).

Sometime over the next two weeks, bulldozers and the crew will begin the process of demolishing the the crumbling, decrepit portion of the library. It is a long-anticipated event for hundreds of children and community members in Negril, all of who have greatly valued the library, but longed for a modernized facility that would give them access to information, literature and connectedness that are staples of global equality. Dewey’s donors have acted globally on behalf of a local community far away and, as the teacher in our video states, “that is a tremendous, tremendous action.” We at the Rockhouse Foundation feel exactly the same way.

One love

–
Peter B. Rose

Oh, man.  Already?

Thanks to your help and support, this has been the most successful book drive in Dewey (and pamie.com’s) history.  This is an even more impressive achievement when factoring a tank of gas these days can cost more than ten times one of these books; when we did not have the usual large-traffic websites drawing attention to the cause; when we hadn’t picked a location that was suffering from a headline-making hardship.  We made an even bigger gamble by picking two libraries in need instead of one, even though a long time had passed since our last book drive.  We didn’t know what was possible, but thanks to all of you, over two thousand books are on their way to a children’s library in Los Angeles, and over fifteen thousand dollars are helping to create a community library for a town in Jamaica.  And we did it in less than a month.

Extra special thanks goes to those of you who pitched in prizes for our donors, and for those of you who spread the word on your own websites, within your own group of friends and co-workers.  Is the Karma working yet?  We hope so!

To all our donors: we can’t thank you enough.   We know Alicia Fox at the Children’s Institute and Peter Rose from the Rockhouse Foundation thank you endlessly.  We’ll post any updates we receive from them in the coming months, but know that the help you gave will keep on giving well past this year, well past when you even remember you gave in the first place.

It’s time for Dewey to take a little nap (he sleeps in the reference section) so he can rest up for next year.  Wear his shirt with pride.

Oh, and the next time someone tells you the Internet is full of crazy people, you tell them about Dewey, and how those people might indeed be crazy, but they’re also pretty damn awesome.

For the record, our final tally for the 2008 book drive is: 882 donors, 1928 books and 17494 dollars.

Love and dog-eared pages,
Pamie and Glark

P.S. The drive is officially over but that’s doesn’t mean you can’t still donate to Children’s Institute or the Rockhouse Foundation — check out the How To Donate page for links.

Congrats to Ashley Thomas who won a signed copy of Sophie Kinsella’s Remember Me? (donated by Inkwell Management) and a personal selection of YA books from Romantic Times.

Jena Klees is getting sneak peek galleys of Maureen Johnson’s upcoming Suite Scarlett and Alyson Noel’s upcoming Cruel Summer. donated by KT Literary.

Congrats to Janine Weix and Theresa Carpine who both won signed copied of When You Were Small by Sara O’Leary.

Gigantic Dewey THANK YOU to

Jody Womsley, who sent $1000 to the Rockhouse Foundation, in memory of Steven Drury Womsley, stating: “Friends of Kate Drenkhahn,” who introduced Dewey to the Rockhouse Foundation in the first place.

Full circle donations. So fantastic.

[This letter was in response to asking if she needed help unpacking/sorting/shelving/etc.]

Hi there!

Thank you! I will need help sorting or labelling but I’m not sure when. I’ve been obsessed with opening the boxes each day and condensing them into the bigger boxes. If I didn’t I would run out of room! I’ve been off Monday and Tuesday this week and am fearing the pile that I might face tomorrow. For a while I was looking forward to the day I wasn’t opening a cardboard box but now I’m getting a little wistful that they will soon dry up!

My plan is to catalog the books and put a book plate in each book with the first name and city, state, and country of the donor. I’ve explained to some of the older kids about the donation process and that these books are coming from people all over the world. They instantly want to look at an atlas to identify where these places are - so the donors are also providing some educational opportunities beyond the wealth of books.

I am realizing the book plates as well as the cataloging may be a big task and haven’t figured out how to organize it all yet. I think I am going to have to take over a conference room just to sort everything. When I get to the point where I know how I am going to organize things then I would love the help!

I don’t have any more pictures for an update as things have been rather hectic around here even without the boxes! Kids who requested books are excited that they were donated and are now impatient to check them out! In the last two weeks we’ve had a surge of library card applications as kids are spreading the word to their friends that we have some cool books coming in. A 7-year-old boy that signed up last week got so excited last week when he got to check out some Bionicle books that he squealed in delight. It’s so rewarding to know that these kids who don’t always have a lot of perks in life can come here and be able to read books that appeal to them. I can tell that it has meant a lot to these kids that we have taken the time to listen to their requests and that people out there are listening to them! A 9-year-old girl asked me last week what it was like to be a librarian because she had to write a paper on what she wanted to be when she grew up and she thought what I did was so cool…to be surrounded by all these great books and get to read them. That was definitely a teary-eyed moment for me! The idea that these kids value libraries enough to want to work in one some day is a real treat, and something that I think the Dewey donors have had a real part in. Until now, most of the books donated to us are used and worn and often outdated. Since we are now getting new books that kids are asking for it has really transformed our library into the place to be!

Truly, I can’t thank the two of you enough for organizing this, and for your followers who have spread the word through their blogs and websites. That we are able to share this joy with Rockhouse and the Negril school makes it even more meaningful.

As for the money raised [from Dewey T-shirt purchases], I want to check with my boss but I think the best route would be for most of the money to go into more books and perhaps some of it to be put towards cataloguing materials. If it went to our donation link on our website it goes into the general pool and we will likely never see the money funnel down to the library. There is no real budget for our library so we are always campaigning for budgetary consideration. In the non-profit world every dollar has to stretch, and we are often the last thing on the list. Through the response of your book drive, management is noticing and realizing that the library matters. It has always been rewarding working at CII, but this Dewey drive has absolutely made it all the more special. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Alicia Fox
Librarian
Children’s Institute

Every time Dewey cries, a children’s book gets its wings.