Hurricane Relief Effort Culminates With Phase Two Disbursement

The Bookseller Relief Fund (BRF) recently distributed $80,000 to Gulf Coast booksellers most severely affected by Hurricane Katrina. The disbursement was the second phase of a plan created by the Bookseller Relief Fund Board to provide humanitarian assistance to those most in need.

In October 2005, Phase One grants of $500 each were distributed to nearly 50 bookstore owners and employees left jobless by the hurricanes. These funds were to meet immediate critical needs, such as food, housing, and transportation.

The American Booksellers Association created the Bookseller Relief Fund in early September 2005 and seeded the fund with a $25,000 donation. Hundreds of booksellers, publishers, distributors, wholesalers, the regional booksellers associations, and others in the industry generously contributed to the fund. Among the largest donations were $25,000 contributions from the Southeast Booksellers Association and from Independent Publishers Group and a $10,000 donation from Holtzbrinck Publishers. Many ABA member bookstores supported the fund, which was established as a permanent entity to assist bookseller who are victims of disasters, through the donation of a portion of their store sales on October 1, a special one-day relief fund effort.

Booksellers receiving Phase Two grants were the hardest hit by the hurricane and include those whose stores and homes were completely lost during the storms, and others who must undertake extensive repairs to reopen their businesses. Three booksellers who are among those receiving Phase Two BRF grants recently talked to BTW about their current situations and what the grants have meant to them.

Susan Daigre's 18-year-old Bookends Bookstore was demolished when Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. She and her husband, a ship captain, returned after evacuating for a few weeks, to find their home wrecked and all their possessions destroyed. At first, Daigre couldn't fathom rebuilding her home and creating a new bookstore, but her perspective changed as she witnessed her community working together and considered how committed she was to providing the battered town with a revived Bookends.

Finances have been a constant worry. With both spouses out of work, other family members in dire straights, plus the cost of reconstruction and the expense of the 26-foot trailer that has been their home since the storm, Daigre has worried that she and her husband would not be able to meet expenses. Money from insurance policies and FEMA has been slow in coming, and she was thankful for the BRF assistance, which came with minimal bureaucratic wrangling. She is now able to plan the new store.

"Our former location, at the foot of the Bay Bridge, is no longer usable. The bridge is gone and work on it is stopped. Eventually it will come back, but things have shifted around, and I've found a fabulous space in spot that hadn't been a big retail area before the storm. Out of the 800 or so businesses that have been wiped out or stopped, about 50 are now back up, and many of them are on the old Highway 90 corridor, where our new store will be. It's 11,000 square feet, one big long space. Very different from the charming little cottage where the store had been since it opened."

Daigre has found the offers of help from BRF, other groups, and individuals to be "overwhelming." She told BTW, "It is so hard for people who have always considered themselves givers to become takers. We're used to standing on our own feet. But we are so thankful to everyone, especially the people in the book business. People have really come through for us -- knowing that all these wonderful people care -- that's what I can hold onto in the dark."

Lynn Roberts, owner of Calico's House of Books, in Diamondhead, Mississippi, wants people to know how significant the BRF grant was to her. "You people have saved my life. I couldn't have done it without ABA," she said enthusiastically.

Roberts returned to her store on her birthday, 10 days after the storm, and found all the books waterlogged, the roof ripped off, mold all around, shelving destroyed, and walls split. Her landlord wanted to rip the building down, rather than repair it. But Roberts wasn't willing to give up so quickly. Unable to secure a low interest loan to purchase the location, with leverage from her BRF grant, she negotiated a deal with the landlord to stay in the building, paying expenses, but not rent, while repairs are made.

Calico's, which held its grand opening the week before Katrina, was a long-time dream of Roberts, who retired from the American Red Cross, and is still active locally. She is putting tremendous energy into reopening the store.

Roberts described the greater impact of the BRF funds. "[This grant] has made a difference, not just to me and my store, because when one store survives, it strengthens others and helps to turn the whole community around."

Both of Michele Lewis' Afro-American Book Stops in New Orleans are now closed. One was completely destroyed and the other, located in a mall that has not reopened, was severely damaged.

Lewis, who also lost her home and her car, has received aid from BRF and support from several other booksellers. She noted that Susan Novotny, owner of Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York, donated a portion of her sales for two weeks to create a fund to help Lewis rebuild her stores. Novotny also offered a vacation for a few days so that Lewis could get away from the stress of dealing with insurance adjusters, FEMA, and the Red Cross.

Mary Price Dunbar of Beaucoup Books in New Orleans offered Lewis part of her store as a temporary outpost of the Afro-American Book Stop. Since the last week in November, Lewis has occupied one of Beaucoup's four rooms in the Garden District store, which was mostly spared the fury of Katrina. Speaking to BTW from the store, Lewis said, "Sharing space is working out well. We're both enjoying it. Customers are finding us, and we're selling books."

Lewis is "taking one day at a time and is not sure what tomorrow will bring." Although she is frustrated by the lack of communication from authorities about what areas will be rebuilt and when, she expressed her gratitude to all those in the bookselling community who are helping her through this ordeal in a heartfelt thank-you note.

Receiving assistance from the BRF has made an enormous difference in Lewis' life. She explained to BTW, "It's provided me with the funds for transportation assistance and for a real bed to sleep in."

BRF Board members are past ABA presidents Ann Christophersen, Neal Coonerty, Avin Mark Domnitz, Richard Howorth, J. Rhett Jackson, Joyce Meskis, Dick Noyes, Joan Ripley, Chuck Robinson, and Gail See. Members of the Board who worked on Phase Two grants were Christophersen, Coonerty, and Ripley. Current ABA President Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida serves as chair of the Board. --Nomi Schwartz