For six and a half decades, the women of the American Association of University Women's Lima branch have turned the cast-off paperbacks, board games, and vinyl records of an entire community into something far more valuable: college tuition for the young women of Allen County. This September, that remarkable alchemy happens again, as the branch's 65th annual book fair opens its doors at the former Rite Aid Pharmacy on West Elm Street, a cavernous retail space that for a few days each year becomes one of the region's largest used-book sales.
The fair runs from Tuesday, September 8, through Saturday, September 12, at 3230 W. Elm St., with an early-bird kickoff on opening day from 3 to 8 p.m. (a $10 admission buys first pick of the shelves), followed by a full-price day, a half-price day, and finally the beloved "bag and box" days, when shoppers can fill a bag for $3 or a box for $5. Every dollar raised flows directly into the branch's scholarship fund for women from Allen County who are either high school seniors or already enrolled in college. This year, the proceeds of last year's sale funded 15 scholarships of $1,500 each.
The scale of the operation is staggering. Organizers estimate that between 150,000 and 200,000 donated items pass through the building each year — fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels, children's books, games, puzzles, CDs, and vinyl albums, most priced between $1 and $5. The most valuable pieces are set aside for a silent auction that, in the words of co-chair and treasurer Sue Ann Shaw, supports "a good chunk of the fair." The whole enterprise is powered by volunteers, who sort and shelve for months and are rewarded with a dollar in "book bucks" for every hour they give, redeemable at the sale.
The book fair is the financial engine of the Lima branch's mission, which has carried the AAUW's torch locally for generations. In its early years, the sale supported just two scholarships of $100 each. Today it funds more than a dozen awards of $1,500 apiece, and the branch's scholarship committee reviews applications each winter, grading candidates on a rubric that weighs GPA, community service, activities, and a written essay.
The fair has been a nomad over the decades, bouncing between the basement of the Allen County Museum, the Lima Public Library, and a space near the Lima Mall's old Elder-Beerman store, among other homes.
The scholarship tradition itself dates to the early years of the book fair, with the first scholarships of $100 given to two women. Over the years, the impact has rippled outward, with recipients sometimes becoming volunteers themselves, closing the loop between the community's generosity and the next generation of students.
That cycle is embodied by Alexandria Karapondo, a sophomore at the University of Central Florida who grew up in Lima. Because her parents' income exceeds the threshold for federal financial aid, Karapondo pays out-of-state tuition without government assistance — a burden eased considerably by winning two $1,500 scholarships from the AAUW. She has repaid the favor by throwing herself into the fair's preparation, volunteering far beyond the ten hours the organization requires. "I'm planning on being here every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until I go back to college," she said this summer.
Sara Smith, a recent graduate of The Ohio State University at Lima, has spent three years volunteering at the fair and finds its rhythm deeply rewarding. "There's always the same people that come here year after year after year," she said, "a bunch of people making donations as well, so it's good to see people giving to the girls who won scholarships and giving the community something to read and enjoy."
For Shaw, the fair is simply the most visible expression of what the AAUW has always stood for. "The whole aspect of AAUW is education and literacy for girls, fairness in school for girls and also equity in pay for women," she said. "There's a lot of issues that we deal with." The book fair, with its mountains of donated paperbacks and its quiet, steady purpose, is how the Lima branch has chosen to address those issues for more than sixty years — one book, one scholarship, one student at a time.
Donations for this year's fair were accepted through late August, and volunteers spent the summer unloading trucks and organizing the shelves in the former pharmacy. The result, come September, is a book lover's paradise and a testament to what a community can accomplish when it decides to put its old books to work.