Book Buddies hit the ground running soon after the holidays ended, putting in over 100 hours toward getting donated books ready for our May Book Celebrations. The loyal and hard-working Reagan High School chapter of the National Honor Society have been coming most Monday evenings and even some Saturdays to help the effort. Under the able and very organized leadership of Alyssa Carrasco, this group has sorted thousands of books while keeping everyone in good humor. Their expertise in assessing grade levels for the books has helped all of us.

Another group deserving special mention is Zanobia Syed’s Brownie troop from Boerne. These Brownies may be small, but they are mighty! They counted books, they boxed, they transported books from sorting tables to tubs for counting. They were meticulous in their boxing and counting, and even drew hearts on the boxes for the children. They were in motion every minute, and we got lots of books ready the Saturday they were there. The moms who came with them pitched in and sorted books, too.  You are welcome to come back to Book Buddies any time, Brownies!

All this steady volunteer work is paying off, too. An informal count of books boxed and ready to go to the schools is 31,676 books! But there are still about ten Gaylord boxes of books left to sort: about 20,000 books. We need volunteers to help get these boxes emptied and sorted ready to go. Please go to our SignUp page:  http://signup.com/go/ZKpgTgc. Sign up for as many slots as you can. It’s a fun family or group activity — ask our regular volunteers!

From left to right: Book Buddy volunteers and Zanobia Syed’s Brownie Troop