Books battle passivity

“In 2001, an Audubon, Baton Rouge Kiwanis club member said that men (soldiers) on the front lines sometimes had inactive or slack times. In Vietnam, he said he would have appreciated a paperback book that would have fit into his pocket,” says Mildred Feldman, member of the club. “That started the Audubon Kiwanis interest in collecting books.”

The Kiwanis Club of Audubon, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, book chairwoman Rae Phillips stores books in her garage until a need arises.

A total of 1,500 books were collected and sent overseas to United States service men and women.

Since then, Mildred says, the club’s goals have changed with the reading needs of the community: flooded and lean budgets among tax-supported libraries, nursing homes, and prisons all have been the thankful recipients of the club’s book collections.

“A small Mississippi town had no library and money for one,” Mildred says. “However, there was an interested volunteer librarian, available space, and a town resident who had a daughter in the club.”

Several hundred books kick-started that community’s library. In addition, 17 nursing and retirement homes received 800 books, and a prison ministry took about 100. Four parish libraries plus an outreach program received about 1,500 books. “It is estimated that 2,400 books were distributed in 2004-05,” Mildred says.

“The next year was the great deluge along the Gulf Coast. Library buildings, books, and related resources were flooded and totally destroyed. New Orleans was taken care of by other agencies, but smaller libraries were hurting,” Mildred says.

The club responded by delivering 2,100 books to the Lake Charles Library.

The club collects books from friends, and Louisiana State University helps too. Kiwanians sort the books and store them in their garages until a need arises. From the looks of it, though, the club is keeping the love of reading alive for many.