Nancy’s Fund

Nancy Dougherty, with help from Lucy the dachshund, sorts books to be sent to troops overseas.

Local Book Project Helps U.S. Troops

by Jim Evans

It started with a single phone call from a friend in Florida. "My nephew is stationed in Iraq. If I send you a check, would you ship me some books that I can send to him?" the caller asked Ginger Cody, co-owner of Books, Books, Books! in Ramona.

"Better yet, give me his address, and I will send him the books for free," Cody said.

"If you provide the books, I will pay for the postage," chimed in volunteer Nancy Dougherty, 16, who had overheard the conversation.

"I have a relative serving in Iraq too," added a customer.

"What’s his address?" Cody asked. "We’ll send him some books too."

Thus began a simple project that quickly gained a life of its own and has resulted in more than 10,000 paperback books being sent to individual servicemen and women during the past year. Word of mouth quickly spread about the project, and local residents began to donate even more books to the cause and provide addresses of more local servicemen and women.

"The response has been terrific," Cody said. "One of our local boys opened his box of books and invited his buddies to help themselves. ‘Did you ever see pigs gather around a trough at dinner time?’ he said. ‘If I hadn’t already removed my book, the box would have been completely empty!’

"Apparently, many of the recipients just set up bookshelves outside of their tents so that people can come by and borrow a book whenever they want," Cody added.

Cody and her partner Fred Ulawatsch have owned their bookstore at 835 Main Street for the past 10 years, specializing in used hardback and softback books of all kinds. "It was an easy decision for us to send books to our troops," she said. "It’s the least we can do to help them while they are serving our country."

The boxes in which the paperbacks are packed for shipping sometimes leave empty spaces when the books don’t completely fill the box, so Cody fills the spaces with "balloons, stuffed toys and cassette tapes" for a tighter fit.

"I like to surprise them and they seem to enjoy it," she said. "In fact, one of our local Marines recently returned and told me a cute story about my surprise stuffings.

"It seems that some of the men started a balloon fight with some of the balloons that I had packed when — suddenly — their commanding officer entered the barracks unannounced. Everyone snapped to attention, of course, with balloons floating around all over the place. They really felt stupid and, apparently, this particular officer had a reputation for being a real hardnose. No one had ever even seen him smile. His face didn’t look very pleased at what he saw, and they expected the worst.

"But all at once he grabbed a balloon and started throwing them at people, and the balloon fight was on again. It showed that he was just a regular guy after all, and it really helped to ease a lot of tension.

"We found out that General Tommy Franks like to read Westerns, so we sent him a box of Western novels wrapped with a red ribbon and delivered to his helicopter. We heard that he really appreciated it.

"Our Nancy has really taken a leadership role," Cody said, "by helping to spread the word and soliciting donations to keep the project going."

Dougherty, a junior at Ramona High School with a 4.0 grade-point average, volunteers to help at the bookstore because she "just loves books." She also volunteers at the local VFW center in Ramona setting and busing tables and helping with meals every Friday and Saturday night. But she never expected the book project to take off the way it did.

"I was really surprised," said Dougherty, who has never done anything like this before. "It felt really good to do something for our troops. We have sent books to Iraq, Korea, Afghanistan and other places around the world where U.S. troops are stationed, and some of the letters that we receive from the individual service men and women expressing their gratitude makes it all worthwhile."

Nancy and her friend Carly Shevinski — under the watchful eye of Lucy, the resident dachshund — help sort and catalog books at the store. And Nancy’s offer to pay for the postage has quietly become known as "Nancy’s Fund."

"Local residents have been very generous in contributing to the fund," Dougherty said. "We usually send three to five boxes of books a week, so every little bit helps."

"Both of these girls (Dougherty and Shevinski) are my grandchildren," Cody said affectionately. "They aren’t really my grandchildren, of course, but they have done such a good job, and I am so proud of them that I promoted them," she said, chuckling. And kudos to you and Fred, too, Granny!

Patriotism and generosity are alive and well in Ramona.

To contribute to Nancy’s Fund or to contribute books to be sent overseas, contact Books! Books! Books! at (760) 787-1951.