The Missouri River Regional Library and the Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE) nonprofit would like to thank the community, its volunteers and donors for helping to make the 20th annual joint-venture book sale a success.
ABLE is a nonprofit organization that works with individuals to help them learn to read or improve their level of literacy.
As a result of community supporters who purchased books during the March 9-11 book sale, MRRL and ABLE made a gross revenue of roughly $40,000, the fourth largest sale since 2010.
Betty Hagenhoff, assistant director of MRRL, told the News Tribune it wouldn't have been possible without the support of the community, library staff and ABLE.
"This is our 20th year hosting the book sale alongside ABLE, and we would like to thank the public and all those who helped make it happen," Hagenhoff said. "It's hard to imagine where we started at 20 years ago."
The book sale was hosted for years at Capital Mall in whatever space they could fit in.
More recently, the duo moved the book sale to a room at St. Martin's Knights of Columbus, which has created a roomier environment for staff and patrons.
For ABLE, this fundraiser provides 90 percent of its funding; the only revenue source for ABLE is in the form of an allocation from United Way of Central Missouri.
Carol Davidson, executive director of ABLE, said she is thankful for the generous community support.
"It such a good community effort where Rotarians, library staff, friends of the MRRL and other supporters come together to help us pull this off," Davidson said.