Street Books Celebrates With Sisters of the Road

The Street Books team is very glad to invite you to our annual Validation Day celebration with Sisters of the Road. We provide free books and blank valentines for diners, and also invite the community to bring their book donations in. If you've been meaning to unload a bag or two of paperbacks, now is your chance! Hope you can drop by. Tuesday, February 14, 11-2. 133 NW 6th Avenue.

Street Books On the Move

Some of the Street Books crew distributed books at 2 lunches yesterday. The first took place under the Hawthorne Bridge, and was sponsored by HOMEpdx. The second stop was at Potluck in the Park at 9th & Washington (where they set up in the underground parking garage because of the rain). Tony requested Ann Rice, and we found him a copy of Queen of the Damned. Abe stopped in and said "Any chance you have a Japanese language book?" and was shocked when street librarian Diana Rempe handed him a Concise Japanese Dictionary, complete with phrases and everything. As Street Books draws down the 5x-week bicycle shifts, we'll be offering winter book giveaways, and getting ready for our summer 2017 shifts. Keep a look out for word on our annual Sisters of the Road Validation Day celebration in February. 

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Reminder + Matching Grant Update

Very excited to see everybody tonight at the Street Books celebration - Don't forget that this year it's on NE Broadway (237 NE Broadway, between 2nd & third). We won't be on the rooftop terrace at Ecotrust! Also, you're welcome to pay at the door, if you haven't gotten a ticket yet (Brown Paper tickets stops selling on the day of the event). We've got some sweet auction items from Patagonia, the New American, and Lucky Lab Brewing Co. Can't wait to see you tonight! 

Also, if you're not able to attend, but want to help us meet our $2,500 goal (so that the Olive Bridge Fund can match that amount), you can visit our Donate page. 

Thanks to the community's incredible generosity, we are only $503 shy of making our goal! If you're able to kick in, please do, or help us spread the word. Thank you.

A Matching Grant, a Celebration

Thanks to donations from the Street Books community, we're nearing $1,000 toward our $2,500 goal, (Olive Bridge Fund will match that amount, if we can make it). If you haven't kicked in toward that effort, and would like to, visit: http://streetbooks.org/take-action/#about 

Also, don't forget our annual celebration & fundraiser, Wednesday, September 14th. Beer, pizza and great entertainment will be had. See you there! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2593089

 

Street Books Event: We'll See You There!

We're very happy to announce our 6th annual Celebration & Fundraiser, Wednesday, September 14th, from 6-8 at Lagunitas Community Room, (237 NE Broadway, #300). 

As always, this will involve a killer combination of literary genius (this year is writer & storyteller Arthur Bradford), politics (Mayor Hales will speak), and good food and drink, (Sizzle Pie pizza, wine and Lagunitas beer). All Street Books library patrons attend our gathering free of charge, so even if you can't make the event, consider buying a ticket ( here ) to sponsor one of our patrons. And we thank you for spreading the word.

Finding the Good News

Big thanks to these Portland citizens: Andrea, Phyllis & Warren, Kathy, Ginny & Gordon and Julie - each of them recently wrote to offer books to Street Books, and then made the trek to the EcoTrust building today, to drop them off.

Kathy's son is a police officer, and she told us that a few weeks back, she hit a low point. The headlines were full of news about recent deaths of black men during police stops, and several different fatal attacks against police. She decided to enter the phrase "Good News" in a search engine, and that's how she found out about the Street Books project! We are grateful for the books Kathy brought us, and very glad to have met her today. Julie lives in Seattle, but she learned about Street Books while visiting Portland, and emailed to let us know about a collection she recently published of writing by women who have experienced life on the streets, Original Voices: Homeless & Formerly Homeless Women's WritingToday, her nephew delivered a copy for us, on Julie's behalf. Gordon and Ginny gave us like-new books, and said she couldn't imagine being without a good book to read. Andrea is a retired educator who looks for opportunities to give her time and energy to help make the world a better place. Phyllis offered a donation, and her husband Warren delivered. All of these fine people are part of the fabric that makes up the Street Books community, and we are better for knowing them. Thanks again, everybody.

Street Books: Update

Big thanks to Emily Smith at the Oregonian, for the nice article she wrote, detailing the growth of Street Books. Veteran street librarian Diana Rempe and new hire Katy Stevens visit Hazelnut Grove and St. Francis every Thursday. If you'd like to visit a library shift in action, or donate paperback books, email: librarian@streetbooks.org. 

Want to fund a library shift, or sponsor a book for a patron? You can do that here.

Thanks everybody, and happy summer.