The Bright Lights Book Project: Volunteers Welcomed with Open Arms
Contributed by Alys Culhane
I didn’t have a long-term vision when I started salvaging books locally. I didn’t want to see local books get shredded, pulped, or sent to the landfill, which was then their fate. I felt compelled to end this practice because I am a life-long reader.
My routine was then purposefully simple. I wrote in the morning, rode horses in the afternoon, and read in the evenings. My routine changed in December, 2020, when I began to salvage, sort, clean, and categorize discarded VCRS books. My father called his New Hampshire-based bookstore Country Lights, so in honor of his venture, I named mine the Bright Lights Book Project.
The question that surfaced after I amassed a few thousand books was, what do I do with them all? The answer materialized in a serendipitous fashion. I was one day flipping through a copy of Make a Scene, and noticed the resource listing entitled Non-Profit Directory.
I thought that perhaps these community-based organizations would welcome free book donations. In making the first of several random phone calls I became a part of a community of local care-givers who in their superhuman efforts provide much needed emotional, financial, and moral support to those in need in the Mat-Su Valley.
I first spoke with United Way representative Michele Harmeling and told her about the Bright Lights Book Project. We had a great deal in common. She was also a book lover, and like me, she had acquired her MFA from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Michele was personable, thoughtful, upbeat, quick to laugh. As importantly, she assisted me in opening numerous book project doors.
Michele’s two most important bits of advice were to partner with other organizations and to apply for a 501(c)3. In quick succession I spoke with Connect Palmer, Valley Art Alliance, Connect Mat-Su, and Mat-Su Youth Housing (My House) representatives. All welcomed book donations. And all provided me with names of like-organizations. In making these connections, yes, I forged partnerships with these individuals and their nonprofits. In time, I was also providing books to Kid’s Kupboard, Family Promise, Alaska Family Services, and The Palmer Senior Center. In addition, the Mat-Su Health Foundation gave us a grant and continued to provide us with administrative support and feedback.
The representatives of these organizations also suggested that I apply for a 501(c)3. These first phone calls seemed to me as being akin to going to the dentist and having teeth pulled. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
The BLBP would never be a profit-based organization. However, future growth would be dependent upon funding. Last November Pete Praetorius (husband) and I did the numbers. We’d need money for additional bookcases, office supplies, gas reimbursement, and a larger storage building. We agreed that the acquisition of funds would have to come from outside sources.
Pete filled out the innumerable forms required by the state and the IRS. In the meantime, I continued to handle the now more than 20,000 books that had come our way.
The state approved our request for nonprofit status last December. The IRS was slower on the uptake. And time was a waste. We’d miss out on upcoming grant deadlines unless we got the nod. Amy Petit at Alaska Farmland Trust suggested that I contact Lisa Murkowski’s office and see if our nonprofit status might be expedited.
Congressional approval was the ticket. We received our nonprofit status on February 21, and we received a letter from Murkowski’s office verifying this on February 25.
We have since formed a BLBP board and put up a BLBP website. We’re now applying for grants, thus assuring that the Bright Lights Book Project will continue to grow and prosper. Most importantly, we are now identifying ourselves as being a part of a socially-responsible non-profit network, which is one that provides readers locally and state-wide with free books.
For more information about the Bright Lights Book Project, check out our website: www.brightlightsbookproject.org. Or contact Executive Director Alys Culhane at director@brightlightsbookproject.org.