I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “Never thought I’d miss Nixon.” I laughed because he was a childhood fixture in my life, the guy with the receding hairline and the jowly face. He was tenacious, never gave up, got to be president, and proved that power corrupts. Now we have another, worse than Nixon, hoping to get back into office. Will wonders never cease.

And I never thought I’d see the day in which I’d be applying for grants for the BLBP. I remember back in the day, when the project was located at VCRS, the Palmer-based recycling center. I remember being stymied by my inability to figure out what to do with (initially) a handful of books. I drove around and gave them to friends. There was a hiatus in which I ceased to go the recycling center. But the books, and the fact there were so many of them, this thought never left my mind.

Bookcase at Chickaloon PO

I remained stymied when I resumed retrieving books – there were so many. I began literary dumpster diving with Sue, Steve Brown’s wife. She also knew that these books were treasurers. She and I worked together a few days, then she resumed putting energy into her job, which was not book related.

My friend Bill picked up where Sue left off. We spent a few years sorting through and taking books, there at VCRS. I resumed giving books to friends, and then, organizations. It was when local businesses became receptive to the idea of our having bookcases in their venues that the project began taking off.

All the while, I made local connections, one of which was with Milena Sevigny, who used to work for Tote and now works for Kid’s Kupboard, a free food distribution center. Melina put us in touch with Saltchuk, the parent company of many freight-based organizations here in Alaska. They agreed to pay for a building, located on VCRS land, but the VCRS board nixed this idea. We remained undaunted – we got our own 501(c)(3) and just kept doing what we do. Saltchuk has since provided us with three $25,000 grants. That’s $75,000. We got wind of this third grant today.

I called Dave Karp and he said yes, Saltchuk is giving us another $25,000. Just like that.

The question I have now is, how do we thank Dave and company? There must be some imaginative way of doing this. I have no clue. I guess that I’ll have to start asking people because at least in my mind, this is a huge vote of confidence.

This began (again) with my getting just a few books into the hands of appreciative readers. Now it is something much, much bigger. Yes, at times I do feel as though the weight of the world is upon my shoulders, which is why my posture is now so shitty. But now, we will have the rent money on hand when we need it. We are a landlord’s revenue stream. We need to reverse this. And soon.

Next: 56. 2/27/24: Speechless