The Man Behind the Books

People who give financial and household goods gifts St. Vincent de Paul all support our mission. They are all very special people, businesses and organizations. We could not exist without them.  Recently, a donor contacted us and explained that he had thousands of books to donate to us. He said he would donate books as they were prepped and boxed every week for the next few weeks.

Please meet Bill Schmidt of Riverton, just South of Seattle, and a special donor who is giving us thousands upon thousands of books. Bill is not a book store owner, librarian, or an estate sales executive. He is an avid book collector and a man who believes in our mission of helping neighbors in need.

We spied his first donation in “Chiquita Banana” boxes on pallets in our Council office warehouse. He had collected over 2,000 boxes from a store on Beacon Hill in Seattle to house the books for shipment. The boxes naturally spiked our curiosity—we had to make a site visit to learn more about the donor, the books and of course the boxes.

When we went to meet Bill, we got a front and center view of his massive treasure house of books and all kinds of collectibles spread over three floors in a building. It was a special and memorable experience.  Bill explained that his collection was between 100,000 to 120,000 books. St. Vincent de Paul is not getting all of them, but we are very grateful and thankful Bill thought of us. Bill’s donation will help us in several ways. We give free books to “guests” at our Georgetown Food Bank on Fourth Avenue in South Seattle. Many who get their books from us don’t have the funds to buy from books stores or through Amazon. We also sell books at our thrift stores and the proceeds are used to help neighbors in need.

The photo you see here is a quick snap shot were able to secure in one area of a basement full of thousands of books in —yes you guessed it — Chiquita Banana boxes.

Thank you Bill!!