Group sends books to Iraq

The books keep coming. Boxes of them, left on the loading dock, dropped in the office. Thousands of books. All kinds. Adventure stories, romances, histories, sacred texts, classics.

The books come from people who have run out of space, who are moving to a smaller home, who are cleaning out garages and attics. They come from widows and widowers, children and grandchildren.

On some Mondays, Friends of the Library staff arrive to discover 30, 40, 50 cartons waiting for them. Many of the books were dropped off at library branches, then transported to the Charleston County Main Library's back entrance.

The books fill the metal shelves quickly.

The volunteers sort them according to subject and condition. Then, when the shelves are full, the books go back into boxes, and the boxes are labeled and stacked, and the stacks reach halfway to the ceiling. Books destined for resale at a fundraising event. Books sent to schools and hospitals. Books shipped abroad — precious gifts — to soldiers in Iraq, hungry for information, for fantasy, for history, for humor, for comfort, for escape.

It began in January when Barbara Kingsbury sent a few boxes to her son, Ben Spencer, an avionics technician and petty officer third class in the Navy stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad.

Spencer piled the titles on a table in the administrative offices. "People could just come up and grab them anytime," he says.

Soldiers took a book, read it, then returned it to the pile for someone else to use. There was no point in keeping books, Spencer says. They're heavy. They take up space. In the military, you travel light.

Kingsbury is manager of Friends of the Library, a nonprofit that raises money to support the programming and events of the Charleston County Public Library. She keeps at it. Boxes are packed and shipped. Volunteers in the sorting room help. They keep track of inventory, drawing a hash mark beside each category, trying to ensure that each box contains a varied assortment.

Clara Mae Neuman is 87. She has been sorting books for more than 25 years. "It keeps me alive," she says.

She still comes in two days each week, working side-by-side with Mickie Kelecy and Suzi DeMerell.

Kelecy likes to pick out inspirational books for the troops. Inspiration is what soldiers need, she says. DeMerell digs for unusual titles. They send two or three boxes every month. Sometimes they include deep-fried peanuts or other treats. Sometimes they pack paper and crayons and soccer balls for Iraqi children. An anonymous donor provided $500 to pay for the extra supplies.

Spencer has been organizing things on his end. The grab pile got bigger and multiplied, he says. Now, books are available in several places throughout Camp Victory. He has relied on chaplains to help distribute the titles.

A few months ago, shortly before Spencer was scheduled to return home, the Army brigade he was assigned to moved out of Camp Victory and a new brigade settled in. So Spencer, eager to keep the book lending going, went to talk to the new brigade's sergeant major, who put Spencer in touch with Chaplain Bill Rohrer.

Rohrer took up the cause, and Spencer came home to the Lowcountry to continue his military training.

In June, suddenly, Kingsbury stopped hearing from Rohrer. A box returned to Charleston. Two months of silence. E-mails unanswered. Finally, in September, she received word from him. He had just returned from Germany, where he was treated for an injury. No other details. But at least the books were moving again. The volunteers just sent two more boxes.

In this way, Tom Clancy and Robert Parker and Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, even Thomas Hardy, find their way to Iraq, where they tell their stories to soldiers and administrators, chefs and mechanics, drivers and pilots, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and officers.

The books keep coming, precious books. Kingsbury and her volunteers will see to it.

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.