Tallahassee Dental Specialists is proud to announce we are hosting a book drive benefiting Operation Paperback – a non-profit organization which sends gently used paperback books to American troops overseas and miliary families here at home. In addition, veterans in the United States at VA hospitals and in Wounded Warrior programs can also benefit from these donations. Donations will be accepted until Friday, June 30th (the office will be closed Monday, July 3rd and Tuesday, July 4th).
How it Works
- Bring in your gently used books (with limited restrictions listed below) of many genres. Some examples of acceptable genres include (but are not limited to) mystery, fantasy, horror, science fiction, westerns, etc.
- Once the book drive is over on July 4th, the donated books are uploaded to Operation Paperback’s website by genre, matched with requesting veterans and troops overseas, and shipped out (in bulk) throughout the following two weeks. Addresses are proved by Operation Paperback and donations are sent directly to the recipient – no middle party involved!
Restrictions
- Operation Paperback requests no romance novels. Many deployed troops miss their families, so this genre is usually not preferred by recipients.
- No books without covers, with water stains, with torn/ripped pages, or with loose pages.
Common Questions
- “What about magazines?” - Yes! Magazines are acceptable – as long as it’s not a subscription.
- “Can I donate hardback books too?” - Yes! Hardback books are also accepted (though paperback is preferred, and deployed troops will only be able to accept paperback books due to weight/size limitations on their belongings).
- “I don’t have any books to donate, but I would still like to support and participate. Can I give monetarily?” - Absolutely! Any monetary donations will be used to cover shipping costs, with anything extra being donated directly to Operation Paperback. The organization uses monetary donations in order to purchase books to send to more service members.
- “How much does it cost to ship these books?” - Operation Paperback averages a box of 20 paperback books costs just $7 to ship via Media Mail with the United States Postal Service.
Operation Paperback Outcome
Overall, Tallahassee Dental Specialists were able to receive a total of 73 books! This is fantastic for our first book drive, and we look forward to seeing what future projects will have in store for us.
After counting these books, we will now be sorting them by genre, uploading what we have to Operation Paperback’s website, getting addresses to active and retired military personnel and their families, and shipping these books off directly to the recipients.
Operation Paperback accepts book donations year-round. If books are not available for donation, they also accept monetary donations. There are some special books requests sometimes made by veterans/their families, and Operation Paperback uses monetary donations to provide these requests!
