June Wrap-Up

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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! 

May Wrap-Up

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We have had a busy month at Big House Books! We’d like to offer special thanks to Holly, Miranda, Ryan, Julia, and Tereza, who staffed our information table at two events this month. We have the best volunteers! Thanks to those who donated money, bought merch, or just stopped by to say hello at the Clinton May Market and at Midfest. We love meeting our supporters in the community.

We also had some very special guests all the way from Bruce, Mississippi. The Bruce High School Law & Education class came down to host their own Book Packing Party. As you can see, it was a success! They filled a cart full of requests and prepared two boxes of packages for us to drop off at the post office. We appreciate their hard work and support.

We will not have a volunteer session on Sunday, May 29th, but we hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming events this summer, including Juneteenth on Farish and the Mississippi Book Festival.

Meet our new Program Assistant

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We are pleased to introduce our new Program Assistant, Miranda Vaughn. Miranda has professional experience in libraries and archives. She has a Master of Library and Information Science degree and a graduate certificate in Archives and Special Collections from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has served in leadership positions with the Mississippi Federation of Women’s Clubs, through which she organized a book drive for Big House Books last summer. She is passionate about literacy, education, and community service. We are excited to have Miranda on the BHB team!

We would like to thank all of our donors and volunteers who have given of their time and finances over the last 8 years. It is because of your outreach efforts and generous donations that we are now able to bring on a paid staff member. We are so excited to see Big House Books continue to grow, and we hope you’ll stay with us on this journey!

We Are Hiring!

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 Big House Books is hiring!
We are looking for an independent contractor to assist with the day-to-day activities of Big House Books. This position is 4-10 hours per week and is flexible. The pay is $15/hr. The position is hybrid– some tasks must be done on-site at our office in Midtown Jackson.

Contractor reports to the BHB Board of Directors. 

Responsibilities include hosting one volunteer session per week, various administrative duties, managing and scheduling volunteers, updating our social media, sending out email blasts, and maintaining a clean and orderly office space. 

Tools we use: Mail Chimp, WordPress, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter


BHB does not discriminate based on gender identity/expression, race, disability status, criminal background, or education background. Anyone who is passionate about our mission is welcome to apply. Preference will be given to existing volunteers. 

To apply, please send us an email at bighousebooksms@gmail.com. Tell us about how you connect to our mission, your schedule, and what your goals are. 

Thank you for your interest! 

Accepted Titles

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Our needs often change, but the following are books we can always use more of and are always accepting! They must be clean and paperback.

African History 

African American History

Native American

Adult Coloring Books

Almanacs

Bibles (especially large print)

Bible Dictionaries

Concordances

NonFiction

 LGBTQ

Graphic Novels 

Urban Fiction 

Work Out / Fitness 

Current year daily/weekly/monthly planners

Business / Finance / Wealth Building 

Biography – celebrities, famous Black figures 

Dean Koontz

Puzzle Books (Soduko, word search, crosswords) 

Gardening/Homesteading

Dictionaries

Real Estate 

Trade Books (plumbing, HVAC, Carpentry Home Building,  etc , anything DIY) 

Cars / Motorcycles 

Music 

Art – how to draw, etc (not books of art) 

Crafts – how to

Foreign Language

Dan Brown

Greg Isles

James Patterson

GED study guides

Self-Help Legal

Law Dictionaries

Sketch Books

Self-Publishing Music and Books

 Wicca / Pagan Mythology 

Occult / New Age

Stephen King

Astrology

Paranormal / Conspiracy 

Numerology

Ancient history/ancient civilizations/ religions.

Westerns, all the popular authors:

V C Andrews

Nora Roberts

Anne Rice,

Karen Kingsbury

CDL study guides

Zane

Current Needs

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Please check our wishlist

You can also support inmates by volunteering (safely, separately) and donating (money or books)

We have a lot of requests for:
• Adult coloring books
• Fantasy novels
• Greg Isles
• Danielle Steele
• James Patterson
• Book on Wicca, spells, and astrology
• Bibles and study bibles
• Horror/paranormal
• Techincal books (heavy machinery, farming, trade skills)
• Manga
• Astrology
• True Crime
• Composition books