If you enjoy reading and you enjoy animals, then you could scratch both of those itches simultaneously by supporting the Moose Jaw Humane Society and its fundraising efforts.
Tucked away in a back room in the shelter on Stadacona Street West is a growing bookstore that the organization started more than a year ago. Jammed wall to wall with shelves, bookworms can find literature from the Royal Family to romance to fiction to mystery.
Book lovers from far and wide have dropped off hundreds of tomes and publications over the past few months, include two recent deliveries totalling 28 boxes.
“It’s amazing. It’s incredible that people think of us (with their donations),” said fundraising co-ordinator Donna Fritzke.
The humane society has a partnership with the Wandering Market and the Handmade Shop, with both businesses agreeing to sell books on behalf of the animal organization. The organization also works with seniors’ housing to provide books to residents there; some housing units even have their own sales.
“It’s about building relationships,” Fritzke said. “The Wandering Market and Handmade Shop sell out of the goodness of their heart and don’t keep the money.”
Book sales have slowed recently, partly because most people do not realize a bookstore is in the humane society and partly because it’s summer and fewer people read, she continued. At one point, the organization rented space to sell its books before it decided to sell the literature from its current location. When the humane society can construct a new, bigger shelter, it will have a dedicated bookstore.
The bookstore is open whenever the humane society is open; the building hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Adult books are $2.50 each and children’s books are $1 each, while puzzles — which the humane society also gladly accepts — are $2.50 each.
Fritzke thanked the community for its continued support of the humane society and its donations of books but asked that residents refrain from donating literature until the fall.
For more information, call 306-692-1517.
