The Running of the Seminarians

Last week a major event took place on campus. This is the kid of event that make Elvis and the Beatles looks like amateurs. Yes, I am talking about the Walther Library Book Sale.

The book sale is a lot of work, but it is also a lot of fun. The whole process from set up to tear down takes a week, but it is totally worth the effort because of how much the students enjoy getting books that would normally cost them $40 for $1.

Here are the highlights for those of you who have never experienced this level of fervor for books.

My partner in this adventure is Lynne. Along with Adriane, she is one of my best Fort Wayne friends. She is smiling because I took this picture at the beginning of the sale. By Friday, neither Lynne or I really needed to be anywhere near a camera. Yikes.

Our beautiful set up. There are rows and rows of books. We ended up having over 100 boxes for this sale. We divide the books between hardback and paperback. Hardback books are $1.00 and Paperback books are $0.50. All magazines, Bibles, and hymnals are free.

Another table of books. Beautifully arranged if I do say so myself.

We also have a number of auction items because there are just somethings that the boys (yes, that is what I call these grown men that go to school here) should really pay more than a dollar for. These items typically are worth $150 - $300 and are sold for $35 - $60. Still a pretty good deal.

Yes, these students are running towards the books sale. This is how we know that we are about ready to get slammed. This is also how we know that it is time to unlock the doors. (After we stop laughing at them).

Then the room fills up with pastors, professors, students, their wives, and people from the community who like a good deal.

Then we push all the remaining books together and wait for the next rush. In case you were wondering, this table used to be completely full.

The best moment was when our very own Adriane Door had Blizzards delivered to me and Lynne even though she lives in Missouri! We were very appreciate of the delicious treat and although, we would have preferred her company to ice cream (we miss you Adriane!), it was nice to know that while she is off setting the world on fire that she remembers us. Plus, nothing says I miss working with you like ice cream does.

We sold over 1,000 books that day. A good weeks work for a great cause. All the proceeds from the sale go towards buying and shipping books to our sister seminaries around the world.