By Marie Hancock, Pendletonian Times
PENDLETON, Oregon — Pendleton Friends of the Library held its annual book sale at the Pendleton Convention Center on October 24-26. The book sale is popular among Pendletonians and serves as PFOL’s greatest fundraiser of the year.
Tyler Johnson was very enthusiastic as he described the inner workings of PFOL, which is a quiet community organization. Libraries, books and the innumerable resources available in the gift of the printed word are his passion. He takes his lunch break during his day job as an Administrative Assistant at the Eastern Oregon Trauma Center in Pendleton to talk with Pendletonian Times about Pendleton’s library program.
Johnson, 32, moved to Pendleton in 2021 from South Carolina, where he earned a graduate degree in Library Science as a Reference Librarian. When he arrived in Pendleton, Johnson started asking around to find ways to volunteer with the local library: “the health of the library is dependent on the activity of the community” according to Johnson.
PFOL was established in 1981 as a non-profit, volunteer-based program and currently boasts 149 members. They meet monthly to focus on recruitment, grant applications and fundraising.
Their biggest event of the year is one that many Pendletonians know and love — the Annual Book Sale, which has been held every year since 1983, 2020-21 excluded. The sale benefits the Pendleton Public Library and was held this year at the Pendleton Convention Center. Planning for the sale goes on year-round with six volunteers meeting weekly at Pendleton City Hall.
When asked about planning for the big yearly event, Johnson’s face lit up. He became almost childlike as he drew a breath, sitting up straight in his chair and beginning to tell of the intricacies of planning for such a large-scale operation. Approximately 30,000-50,000 items are donated each year by Pendletonians.
It takes PFOL a week to stage the Annual Book Sale at the Pendleton Convention Center. Monday begins the flurry of activity to set up for the sale, with Hodgen Distributing providing trucks and drivers while ACE Hardware provides pallets. Blue Mountain Community College Men’s Basketball spent between four and six hours with PFOL, unloading and organizing the pallets stacked high with boxes donated by Pendleton Liquor Store that are filled with donated books. Forklifts were contributed to the project while Safeway and others provided shopping carts to aid in loading. Three full days are given to staging for the main event, which usually has about 20 member volunteers.
Members of PFOL enjoy early access to the sale on Thursday afternoon. It is open to the public Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday afternoon featuring the “fill a bag” clearance sale. Johnson was very pleased to say that the Annual Book Sale generates a profit of $9,000-$15,000 after expenses which goes directly to supporting the library. Unsold books are donated to Goodwill Industries International by way of Walmart providing transportation for the books through their fleet.
PFOL always seems to be working. Before the 2019-21 COVID-19 pandemic they hosted an adult prom and they can currently be found at pop-up book sales and bazaars, quietly raising funds for the Pendleton Public Library.
PFOL membership dues are low: $10 for a student, $15 for an individual and $35 for a family with the benefit of early access to the Thursday sale. All proceeds from PFOL events go directly back to Pendleton Public Library. PFOL has a ten member board and a mailing list of 350. They will gladly accept donations every Monday at 7 p.m. on the back ramp of City Hall. Interested parties can email PFOL at: PendletonFriendsoftheLibrary@gmail.com. Their new website is under construction but they can be found by accessing the City of Pendleton website at: https://pendletonor.gov, clicking on the Departments tab, then selecting Library.
Albert Einstein said that “the only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” Pendleton is home to an outstanding treasure trove that serves the community daily. The quiet, small group of PFOL strives to ensure that we all have the ability to access this resource.