July 07, 2008

The Maytag Repairman

Monday mornings…they always bring surprises and this Monday, after a long holiday weekend, was no different.

Shortly before 8am on the West Coast, irwin Herman, our friend who is known by the name The Bookman, was on the lline. Talking to Irwin is always a treat. Once an appliance repairman in cold and windy Chicago, Irwin and his wife retired to sunny San Diego…figuring anything was better than Chicago’s frigid winters! It didn’t take long before Irwin realized that retirement was not for him. It took a visit with a friend to a nearby prison for Irwin to discover something that really "got him". The friend delivered books to prison inmates who truly appreciated these "gifts". Books….something we all have in abundance and something for which we all are usually trying to find good homes. One thing led to another and soon Irwin is making stops at garage sales and book stores and anywhere else he can find books at greatly reduced prices. As one could imagine, it did not take long before Irwin ran out of space to store all of these tomes and he had to find even more storage space.

Where did the books go? It was not difficult to find good homes…schools, prisons, libraries and more. As The Bookman’s website (http://WWW.THEBOOKMAN.ORG) says…"donates new and used books to children and adults around the world who do not have easy access to reading material." (visit the site-it tells you the whole story about Irwin and his crew of volunteers who spend their days collecting books and getting them to people who will enjoy reading them.

Back to Irwin’s call–he was calling to thank us for the check that the Good People Fund just sent to help them do their work. It is money we know will be well-spent. Irwin also shared how excited he was about a young San Diego Bar Mitzvah child who came to him and asked if he could have books to help set up a library in Israel. This was the boy’s mitzvah project. When Irwin saw the child’s excitement and interest in making this library a reality he "let the boy loose in his warehouse to pick out whatever books he needed." The project was so successful that when the Bar Mitzvah guests heard what had been done, they sent checks to The Bookman so that the good work could continue!

And, here is Irwin! Enjoy!