Another productive month at Big House Books. We sent out over 950 books this month and saw about 40 first-time volunteers!

We were honored to host a number of students from Millsaps College this month. Professor Kristen Golden’s Philosphy of Happiness class joined us at the beginning of the month for three volunteer sessions, where they were able to fill requests, organize our book donations, and pack books to send out. We closed out the month with the guys of the Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma fraternities (pictured above), who packed over 250 books at our book packing party!

Thanks to Holly for delivering books to the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility. These books will help stock their prison library, allowing more incarcerated Mississippians to have access to a diverse selection of gently used, up-to-date books for FREE.

Thanks to volunteer groups from Parkway Hill United Methodist Church (pictured above), Millsaps College, and our Thursday book packing parties, we have been able to send 441 packages this month…that’s over 1,300 books to incarcerated people in Mississippi! Woohoo!

We raised over $200 in monetary donations on social media alone. Thanks to all of those who gave!

We were ecstatic to share that all of our book donations were finally shelved. However, that did not last long! Thanks to Lemuria Books and a local group of attorneys, were were able to add more fiction, nonfiction, and legal books to our collection.

Our Program Assistant, Miranda Vaughn, was invited to speak at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System for a Banned Books Week program. We appreciate all of our new supporters who attended this presentation. Thanks to the library and to Friendly City Books for including us in your program.

Since the days are getting shorter, we are switching over to our Fall/Winter schedule. Beginning in October, our weekly book packing parties will be Sundays from 12-2 p.m. If you would like hold your own BPP on a different day, contact Miranda to schedule. miranda@bighousebooksms.org

We are grateful for all of the book donations that keep this organization running. However, we have limited space and a limited number of volunteers to sort through donations. Please be kind and only donate books within our guidelines, so our volunteers can remain focused on sending books instead of discarding items we can’t use.

If you have books to donate that meet the criteria above, you may drop them off on Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. Contact Miranda (miranda@bighousebooksms.org) for more information, or to schedule another drop-off time.

August was a busy month for Big House Books!

We returned to the Mississippi Book Festival for the first time since 2019. It was so great to meet fellow book lovers and literacy advocates from all over the state! We received enough donations to send more than 200 packages of books. That’s more than 600 books in the hands of incarcerated Mississippians! Woohoo!!

Our last book packing party of the month saw a record 15 volunteers! Some of these were first-timers and included teens and adults. They filled two carts of requests and sent another four USPS boxes of packages to the post office. We ended the month strong with a total of 510 books sent to Mississippi prisons!

We were able to fit in one last event before the closeout of the month. Thanks to Holly, Vidhi, and Miranda for working the Graphic Teas and Chill Market presented by Magnolia Sunset Markets & Jackson Flea. We received enough donations to cover the postage for an additional 100 books!

August would not have been a success without the help of our amazing volunteers and donors! To those who helped staff our table at events, bought merch, donated money to our postage fund, and to our first-time volunteers and seasoned volunteers — THANK YOU! Your support keeps us going every month. Together, we are changing the lives of Mississippi’s under-served populations.

We sent out over 240 packages this month, and many of those were thanks to a wonderful group of Millsaps students who hosted their own book packing party this month. Thanks to Dr. Stephanie Rolph and long-time BHB volunteer Rachel Glazer for heading up that BPP.

We have also changed our weekly book packing parties to Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. for the remainder of the summer. As always, if you can’t make Thursdays, message us and we can arrange for you to host your own BPP!

Thank you to all who have donated adult coloring books, planners, etc. from our updated Needs List. We have the most generous donors, and I know those we serve appreciate it.

Catch us at the Mississippi Book Festival on August 20th. We’ll have volunteer opportunities for that day, so stay tuned for signup opportunities.

Join us on Thursdays from 5-7 p.m. for the remainder of the summer. We will resume our Sunday parties in the fall. See you there!

We had a great month with 3 new volunteers and over 240 books sent out to Mississippi prisons!

Starting in July, we will have one weeknight volunteer session each month. This will be in addition to our Sunday book packing parties that we have every week. If you can’t make one of our prescheduled volunteer days, feel free to host your own book packing party at your convenience. Reach out to Miranda at miranda@bighousebooksms.org to schedule a time that works for you. 

We will be taking off this Sunday, July 3rd for the holiday, but we hope you’ll join us for our first weeknight volunteer session on Thursday, July 7th from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. We’ll be back next Sunday from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. as well!