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| HEA Book Boutique and Swamp Fox Bookstore hosted a book swap. | |
On Sunday, in reaction to the administration's efforts to halt SNAP food benefits for more than 40 million people, five Iowa bookstores banded together to raise funds for HACAP, a nonprofit and member of Feeding America that serves nine counties in eastern Iowa. HEA Book Boutique and Swamp Fox Bookstore hosted a book swap at Lowe Park in Marion, where for $15 readers could swap up to five gently loved books and shop with the stores as well as with the Green Dragon Bookshop, in Fort Dodge, Perennial Pages Bookshoppe, Ackley, and Sisters Books and Nooks, Cedar Rapids. Once all rental fees were covered, profits were donated to HACAP. More than 70 people attended the event, and more than $900 was raised for HACAP.
In a related note, yesterday the New York Times reported at length on the independent bookstores that are collecting food for Americans whose food assistance is being threatened by the administration. The Times wrote in part, "Independent bookstores have long operated as hubs for activism and community service. In recent years, some stores have increasingly waded into political and social issues by conducting voter registration drives, sending free books to L.G.B.T.Q. prison inmates and distributing emergency contraceptives to women in states where abortion access has been restricted. Dozens of bookstores have rallied around the issue of food insecurity in recent weeks, according to the American Booksellers Association."