The annual book drive and sale, featured during the Helping Hands Art and Craft Show, netted its highest profit to date on Nov. 3.

Community consists of its citizens and people consist of their words. The most important place individuals find words are in books, which is precisely why NHS provides a book drive to show the importance and worth of books to build community.

The expression “It Takes a Village” is reflective of the efforts of required to host this event. 

For example, Mrs. Beth Plankey organizes the “drive” portion.  She collects books in her classes.  Her freshmen seminar class collects and sorts books.  Her CAPP Speech class organized donations via LAUNCH and promoted the drive.  Then the day before the sale, student muscle moves hundreds of books on carts to the fieldhouse lobby that have been sorted by genre. 

Freshman Lauren Sturgell, who sorted books, said that she knew her efforts were directed toward a good cause.  “I love volunteering because it’s a great way to give back to a community that’s done so much for me.” 

Freshman Josh Arneson donated 40 books to this year’s drive.  He explained that he recently moved; thus he needed to get rid of his old books.  “I enjoy supporting NHS,” he said of his decision.

Plankey values the event because of its positive effects on the school and community.  “It builds community and really encourages reading.” 

Plankey finds inspiration in the impact of the book drive and the level of civic engagement modeled by students and teachers.

Teachers Mrs. Molly Brown and Ms. Stephanie Pommerening burnied the midnight oil sorting books to appeal to potential customers.  Brown organizes the “sale” portion.

“It’s a lot of work sorting and arranging, but in the end it pays off,” Brown said.

The people of the city deserve not only books, but people who are willing to try and make a remarkable difference. This is a point not only believed in, but demonstrated by Plankey and Brown’s collaborative effort.

The first step to having a successful book drive is spreading the word to classes, especially seminars, which contain many willing applicants (since seminars with the most books earn a Dilly Bar party provided by HEART Club). 

All the money collected from the books goes toward a general fund for NHS students and families in need.

A total of $859.50 was collected from the used book sale with Plankey’s seminar winning the Dilly Bar party with 149 books.  Theide (106), Severson’s (73) Skogen (45) and LeMahieu (1) followed respectively.

In contrast, the Satellite documented last year’s total at $750, which is up $91 from 2016.

The annual book drive and sale, featured during the Helping Hands Art and Craft Show, continues to thrive and plan for the next year.

Reporter’s Note:  Working on this story exposed me to the book drive.  I donated to it as a result.  Please consider assembling a pile of books to donate next year.  It takes books to sell books, and volunteers are motivated to support the N.J.S.D. community!