You Never Know Unless You-ASK!Since 2017, the Rotary Club of Marlborough has been running an annual book drive to benefit the Children of the Philippines and Uganda. Each year, we collect books and send them overseas to these two nations. Working with Rotary clubs in those countries to receive and distribute them. We have sent 100 of 1000s of books through the years.
On Mother’s Day this year, my daughter and I visited the Harvard, MA, Library book sale. We had just sent out a shipment of books earlier that month. We are always on the lookout for good books. We were there to look for a book for a friend. Of course, we found other books that we thought would be good for next year’s book drive. We had quite a few, so I decided to ask the volunteers if I could make a deal. To my delight, when the Gentleman heard what the books were for, he offered all the books that had not sold since the sale was ending that day. My Daughter and I crammed them all into my Subaru. See the picture with my daughter. A little over a week later, my fellow Rotarians and I gathered, prepared, and packaged the books up to be sent out, and the other two pictures. We sent out another 1500 books in addition to the ton, 13 boxes we sent on May 1st. Since then, we have arranged with two other libraries to pick up books after their sales. 
We also have an ongoing arrangement with the schools in Gardner, where I live, also because of a simple conversation with the Librarian there. The clubs in Uganda and the Philippines are so excited about all the books; it is the most we have ever sent. We are hoping to make these arrangements an annual thing. I wanted to share this with my fellow Rotarians and encourage you all to ASK, you never know what people might be willing to do to help.