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09/20/2017 08:30 AMFor Branford native Callista Stoddard, helping the community runs in the family—and helping the James Blackstone Memorial Library is a passion.
As treasurer of the all-volunteer group Friends of the Blackstone, Callista is currently gearing up with the rest of the Friends’ Executive Board and a small army of Friends volunteers to put in many hours to put on the annual Friends Book Sale on the Branford Green from Thursday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 1. The sale will offer an amazing array of more than 70,000 donated books at bargain prices.
“I like being part of a group accomplishing things,” says Callista. “There are so many people involved in this book sale—it’s our single biggest fundraiser of the year.”
The sale has a Books and Beyond theme, tying in with several community organizations offering additional activities and events on the Green on Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 1 (see related story here). Events on the Green laced in through the weekend include Trinity Church’s 110th annual Church Fair on Saturday, Sept. 30, and Branford Compassion Club’s Animal Awareness Day on Oct. 1. Additionally, other organizations and community groups are bringing in exhibits and activities.
For Callista and the Friends, Books and Beyond fulfills an idea that began emerging last year.
“Last year, the book sale got moved to mid-October. It’s always historically been held at the end of September, so we started meeting in the spring to figure out, ‘How will this affect sales?’” says Callista. “And the idea we came up with was, ‘Let’s turn it into a little fall festival.’”
At that point, Friends book sale maven Mary Hally “was off and running” with ideas to bring in some seasonal additions to the sale, Callista recalls. This year, when other events set for the Town Green coincided with the weekend of the book sale, the stars aligned and Books and Beyond was the result.
“As Mary said, the fall festival kind of found us!” says Callista. “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s really the kind of fall festival we originally envisioned. We’re excited about sharing our space with other groups, and the cross traffic we’ll create. I know I’m through the roof excited about how fantastic the weekend’s going to be. It’s a celebration of all these great groups that make Branford what it is.”
Being involved in Branford has been a way of life for Callista and her siblings, following the footsteps of their mom, Betsy Klarman.
“Giving back to the community, in all honesty, it’s like a family tradition,” says Callista. “My mother was one of the founders of Community Dining Room, and created the home delivery program through the dining room to get meals to people, because she saw that need.”
Callista’s sister, Kris, is a past Beacon Award recipient (Shore Publishing’s annual award recognizing outstanding community individuals), and her brothers support the community in many ways through their Branford business, W.S. Clancy Memorial Funeral Home. All of the Klarman kids started helping Branford at an early age.
“When I was in high school, I was part of the [Rotary] Interact Club. One of our projects was to paint the basement of the Baptist Church for a new organization. Turns out it was for East Shore Regional Adult Day Care Center [aka] Orchard House, which is where I now work,” says Callista. “They moved to their current location in the old Short Beach School a year or so later. My sister Kris was the very first volunteer at East Shore, and she still volunteers there today.”
Callista is office administrator for the non-profit adult day care, which also provides medical oversight.
“I just believe in the services we provide. I think we provide a necessary resource to the community,” says Callista. “I have had relatives who’ve gone there.”
Growing up in town, Callista’s also been a long-time Blackstone library fan.
“It’s the most beautiful building in town. It’s iconic, it’s gorgeous,” says Callista, who wholeheartedly supports the Blackstone Trustees in their current effort to raise $800,000 as well as secure a $1 million grant from the state library, and seek $3 million from the town to bring about an estimated $4.8 million library renovation and improvement project.
“It will allow the library to be able to effect changes that will promote better use and efficiency of the building they have, and not compromise the building,” says Callista.
Through fundraising, the Friends help the Blackstone to be “more than a library just lending books,” adds Callista. “These days, it’s a resource center. I’m so impressed with all the programs they run. They have unemployment training, job resources, legal services, tax preparation—even yoga—on top of working on your term paper on one of the computers or just taking out a book or video. I think it’s incumbent on us to have the best library we can have. An educated community is a productive community.”
Callista was thrilled when she joined the Friends’ Executive Board in 2010.
“I feel like I’m kind of doing my part,” says Callista. “To me, community is everything. That’s what I love about Branford. I’ve worked on fundraising committees for people in need, and the way people in this town respond is amazing; they’re inspirational. People really step up in the town of Branford. Part of the Friends’ mission statement is to support and promote the use of the library. If there’s something they need, if it’s within our power to accomplish it, we do. It’s a great collaboration.”
Of course, the platoon of Friends volunteers who step up to put on the book sale rank high on Callista’s list of inspirational people.
“We are completely driven by volunteers, and all of the books at the sale are donated. It’s a year-round, massive undertaking to collect, sort, transport, and set up that many books,” says Callista. “We have guys who pick up from our collection centers every day, then the books go to our sorters who are also such committed volunteers. All of the books have to be boxed by category and stored, and then, when the sale rolls around, the Hally [family] oversees the operational aspect of transporting 70,000 books from two sorting locations. It’s a monster job of coordinating all of the people and equipment you need.”
Not to mention, it’s all held under a monster tent—no less than 10,000 square feet. In the days before, during and after the sale, volunteers arrive early and stay late. The book sale kicks off Thursday Sept. 28 from 5 to 7 p.m. with Preview Event and wraps up on Sunday, Oct. 1 from noon to 3 p.m. when you can fill an extra-large bag with books for just $10.
“Every year, the buzz at the book sale is for Sunday. People are always saying, ‘I’ll see you Sunday!’” says Callista. “We supply the bags, they’re all different colors, [and] I have so much have so much fun seeing people walking around with their bags. To see how people in the town respond so positively to the book sale and support it; whether to support their own love of reading, which is fabulous, or to support the library, which is equally fabulous, is a win – win.”