Good Shepherd Church, Hilltown, will hold its 11th annual Used Book Sale during the first two weekends of June.
The event has grown into one of the region’s largest and most popular used book sales. In fact, to neighbors, and in the diocese, Good Shepherd is popularly known as “the Book Sale Church.”
However, there was an unexpected twist during the run-up to this year’s sale, which will open at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 1.
Due to very strong donations, the sale was well on its way to having more than 50,000 books, DVDs and CDs. Because of this tremendous volume, sorting and storage operations were moved to the church basement for the first time.
Since there was never a history of water in the church basement, this seemed a reasonable way to handle to overload. However, during the heavy rains that fell the week of May 12, a portion of the drainage system failed, and resulted in nearly a foot of water flooding the basement.
Through the quick response of Hilltown Fire Company, church volunteers, and a quartet of students from Palisades and Pennridge high schools, it was possible to recover well over two thirds of the books, which had been stored in boxes, some weighing over 50 pounds, and needed to be carried upstairs.
Unfortunately, approximately 12,000 books were lost to water damage and needed to be discarded.
Nevertheless, the sale will go on as scheduled, with more than 40,000 used books, as well as CDs, DVDs and audiobooks. All items have been donated from the community.
All books offered are in clean, sound (and dry) condition. Fiction is sorted by author, and nonfiction into 25 categories (history, sports, cooking, religion, science, hobbies, travel, etc.). A large number of children’s books, as well as some antiquarian books, are also available.
Books are priced at $1 for hardback and trade (larger format) paperback, and 50 cents for mass market (supermarket size) paperbacks. Children’s books are 25 cents each.
In addition to helping to fund the operation and outreach of the church, the book collection effort allows the church to provide books at no cost to other charitable causes, such as senior centers, an inner city children’s library, literacy programs, and an addiction recovery center.
Sale dates are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 1; noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 2; 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 7, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 8. The final day is a “bag sale,” where shoppers can get anything that fits into a standard paper grocery bag for $5.
Call 215-712-7527 for information.
