Thanks Ellwood Thompsons!

For picking Ward and I as your first recipients of the "Local Heroes" Title. Awesome!!

Snow Mobile!

Happy Snow Day, Richmond!

Thanks to Ashby's!

The little bus is working again! Wow!! Thanks to the wonderful people at Ashby's!
http://www.ashbystruckrepair.com/

Zine Fest 2009

What a beautiful day!

Blog to check out... transitional neighborhood lowdown

http://gentrifyrichmond.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/books-bikes-and-beyond/

Books on Wheels at the Zine Fest 2009! Saturday Nov. 7th

Books on Wheels will be at the Richmond Zine Fest on Saturday November 7th from 11-3 pm handing out books! Visit this site for more information about the Richmond Zine Fest at Gallery 5 this year:
Richmond Zine Fest

Thanks Sean!

We now have a sign!

Tagged

Written on the bus. Could be worse for us...

First African Baptist Day Care

Shout out from Nashville!

http://halcyonbike.com/
Thanks, Elise!!

-Shelley

Ward's Email

"Here's a great story: I was just at the Books On Wheels Thrift Store:

Books, Bikes, and Beyond, helping Shelley and Erin install a security

system, and an elderly gentleman from the neighborhood came in.

He was looking for a coat for a 10 year old girl he had seen walking

to school this morning with no jacket. He felt bad for her, and wanted

to help. Luckily, he came to the right place; within 5 minutes, Shelley

had 3 different options for him, all under $5 and in great shape. He

wasn't sure of her size, so he bought 2. If we had any doubt about

opening the store, this kind man took care of it.

Shelley did let me know that while she has been getting plenty of women's

clothes, we are hurting for donations of men's clothing. So, gentlemen,

get correct with your wardrobe, let go of those old Levi's and Oxfords

and Izods, update your look, and hook us up in the process. Donations

are accepted from 10-6, Tuesday-Saturday at 302 W. Brookland Park Ave."

my favorite helper

Wiggum at the store today. Thanks for your help little buddy. . .

RVA News Article

http://rvanews.com/features/books-on-wheels-gets-thrifty/22239

Thrift Store Open for Business!

"Books, Bikes, and Beyond" Thrift Store
302 W. Brookland Park Blvd.
Richmond, VA 23222
804-592-4591
Open Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 pm

"Books, Bikes, and Beyond" Thrift Store opening on Friday!

We are ready to open on Friday at 10 a.m. Come by!
302 W. Brookland Park Blvd.

Hours of Operation:
Tuesday-Saturday 10-6
Closed Sunday and Monday

Our new side of town

Northside! Check out North Richmond News .. . .
http://northrichmondnews.com/news/2009/09/10/books-on-wheels-is-opening-a-thrift-store/

Our first real home and phone number

So we officially have a real home and office located at 302 W. Brookland Park Blvd. in our new Thrift Store "Books, Bikes, and Beyond". Come by and visit sometime. Also we have a phone number that is new:

Books on Wheels
804-592-4591

Virginia is for Covers Show

This show happened over a week ago thanks for Julie Karr for setting it up. I unfortunately missed it because I was out of town, but I sent a replacement and Ward went and said it was great. Thanks to everyone that played and everyone that came to the show to see wonderful talent and support Books on Wheels. .. really amazing and I promise I won't miss this if it happens again.

photos by Steve Crandall

from our New Orleans Spring Tour 2009

St. Andrew's Community Fair

What a beautiful day it turned out after a rainy morning! Thanks to Ann for inviting us and Chip from Pibby's for coming out to help with bicycle repair. The fair had a great turn out, good food, and wonderful pigs and things to pet.

Books on Wheels at Project Homeless Connect

October 19, 2009
9:00 am	to	3:00 pm

This year, Project Homeless Connect will be held on Thursday November 19th from 9-3 pm at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. For more information, visit Project Homeless Connect

Richmond Zine Fest 2009 coming soon!

This year the Richmond Zine Fest will be held on Friday November 6th and Saturday November 7th at Gallery 5. For more info, visit www.richmondzinefest.org

"

The 2009 Richmond Zine Fest will be held at Gallery 5, located at 200 West Marshall Street in Richmond, Virginia, USA (a.k.a RVA). Our dates this year are Friday, November 6th from 7-11pm during Richmond's First Friday Art Walk, and Saturday, November 7th from 11am-5pm as a full day event."

Books on Wheels at First African Baptist Church

Books on Wheels will be holding an event at First African Baptist Church on Monday October 19th from 3-6 pm.

Books on Wheels at Blood Lake!

Books on Wheels will be at Blood Lake on Saturday October 10th. For more information about Blood Lake, visit: www.bloodlakeva.com

13131 OverHill Lake Lane
Glen Allen, VA 23059
(804) 343-3700

More info about our visit to come soon!

Books on Wheels at St. Andrew's Church Community Fair

Books on Wheels will be at St. Andrew's Church Community Fair "Harvest on the Hill" on Sunday September 27th from 12-3 pm. The location is the area behind the William Byrd Community House where the market usually takes place in Oregon Hill off of Idlewood.

Progress

Getting closer...

Accepting Donations and Volunteers!

The Thrift Store is coming together nicely and we will be accepting donations this week on these dates:

Monday September 14th 10-6 pm
Friday September 18th 10-6 pm
Saturday September 19th 10-5 pm

We are accepting clothing, bikes, books, housewares, and pretty much anything except for furniture. All donations are greatly appreciated and come with a tax-deductible receipt.

Also, if anyone is interested in volunteering, please email us! Now that we actually have space to work out of other than the inside of buses, we would love volunteers! If you can or are interested in sorting books, sorting clothes, pricing clothes and store items, working on/fixing bicycles, please let us know if you ware interested!

Thanks again for your support! We are very excited about this new project for Books on Wheels and how it is helping the organization grow. More updates will arrive when we have a definite opening date and we will keep everyone posted!

Before...

Books on Wheels is Opening a Thrift Store!

Hello Friends!

Ward and I are happy to announce that Books on Wheels is opening a Thrift Store in the Northside area of Richmond. The store is located at

302 W. Brookland Park Blvd.
Richmond, VA 23222

We will function as other thrift stores do in selling you gently used merchandise donated to us from the community, but with a few Books on Wheels specialties to look forward to! This volunteer run, non-profit thrift store will provide:

Free books! All the time, always free!

Functioning bicycles for sale. Never buy another thrift store bicycle that you can’t ride away on!

We will not be providing free bicycle repair in store, but we will be holding classes TBA that teach bicycle repair and as always, Books on Wheels will hold events in the neighborhoods with our buses so we can fix bikes during those occasions!

What we need now is support from the community to get us starting. Currently, we are asking for donations of any kind to the store before opening our doors. Also, we always need and greatly apprieicitate monetary donations so we purchase the following items that we need:

Supplies to build book shelves

Clothes Racks and clothes hangers to organize clothing donations
A Cash Register

Paint!

Donate to Books on Wheels Here!!

Thanks for your support! We are going to open our doors as soon and will be back with more information!!

Just a reminder, here is information about Books on Wheels:

Books on Wheels is a Richmond, Virginia based 501 (c) 3 non-profit organizations that provides free books and free bicycle repair. As a mobile operation, Books on Wheels is able to travel to many different communities in Richmond and around the country to provide our services. We work with various other organizations in order to provide to their clients as well as people in their communities. Our services are available to anyone and everyone, yet we do have a concentration in working with at-risk youth in low-income neighborhoods. Currently, we are working on occupying a space within Richmond so we can expand our operation to provide free books and offer bicycle repair classes at a particular location. Our new project will allow for more volunteer participation, as well as ability to reach more people within the community.

Our Mission:

Books on Wheels is dedicated to promoting literacy and maintaining healthy, active lifestyles, while providing much need resources to our communities that lack access to free books and bicycle education. Through literature and bicycle education Books on Wheels works to provide empowering tools that they can use within their communities. In concentrating in working with youth, Books on Wheels strives to encourage young people to read and to learn skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.

Donate Online through Network for Good!

Coming soon...

Something new and big. (not another bus). Get ready!

R.I.P. Moby (for now)

The little bus is being permanently parked. . .at least until we can find someone to maybe fix it, but honestly, it might be a lost cause. It has been a good run, but it just got to hard for the little bus and after having it towed a dozen times i think its time to retire.

National Night Out at the NRC!

Thanks Channel 6!

For having us on the air this morning. It was super fun... Tonight: Carnival at Neighborhood Resource Center for NATIONAL NIGHT OUT 5-8 pm

Sorry Robinson Theater

Unfortunately, after the fundraiser, the bus broke down and we did not make it to the Robinson Theater for the block party. Sorry. Maybe RIP for real???? Five tows in the last 9 months, and probably the last 9 TIMES I have driven the bus....looks like this may be it.

Thank you MCV Childcare Summer Camp!

Books on Wheels would like to thank all the kids that rode around today, along with Lindsey and Tracy for setting up the event. The kids donated books, raised money, and did a great job of riding bike, drinking lemonade, and eating cookies. It was really fun and exciting! Thanks for all the support!