Sara Stadem | Editor
Buffalo Ridge Brewing (BRB) is helping the community once again by hosting a book drive for the West Central School District, explained BRB Event Coordinator Morgan Bream.
Bream explained the idea came after Lisa, one of BRB’s owners, saw a post from the West Central Librarian DaNann Tirrel indicating they weren’t able to have a bookfair the past two years due to COVID-19 and was in need of books.
“So, we got together and talked about it to see what we could do to help since we have the platform to do so,” Bream said.
According to Bream, DaNann explained to BRB that she was looking through different sections of the library such as the sports section and history section and realizing that the majority of the books are outdated or worn out.
Both Tirrel and Bream explained the school is looking for any books ranging for ages kindergarten to 12th grade. The school isn’t focusing on any types of books specifically but more than any donation would be great.
In addition to the donated books, according to Bream and Tirrel, the library is also accepting gift cards from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Bream said, “She (Tirrel) is very grateful for the donations but if she has something specific she needs, the gift cards would be able to help her do that.”
“We just haven’t been able to host our bookfair the last two years due to COVID and that’s our major source for our library,” Tirrel said. “Our circulation of books has increased over the last several years. So, those book drives help us put new and interesting books into the hands of our students. Our books are outdated and just wearing out as they are being circulated all the time.”
BRB will be accepting donations through the week of Thanksgiving and has already received two totes full of books to donate, Bream explained. In order to help the cause, BRB will be giving back to those that give to the library. “If you bring in one to five books to the book drive, you will get a dollar off a pint. If you bring six or more books, you will get a free drink token,” said Bream. That special will be running through the week of Thanksgiving. BRB will still accept donations after Thanksgiving week otherwise community members can donate to the library directly at the school.
The West Central Library will be the local organization that benefits from the BRB’s March BINGO, with all proceeds going to them, according to Bream. She also explained Tirrel, along with the other librarians, will be at the BINGO event so they can speak about why they are in such a need for books. The caller for March BINGO will be Travis Kueho.
BRB has already collected two totes of books and is hoping to collect more, Bream explained. If you are looking to donate to the book drive, stop by the BRB and drop off your book donation in the tote outside of the brewery.