As reported in a recent online article on www.npr.org sometimes the best way to move, especially if you’re having to move because you can’t afford to be where you are, lies in moving for free–since you’re already run out of money.
October Books, in Southampton, England, had been at their location since 1977. As a small, local bookshop, it had always had to be creative to compete against the onslaught of online booksellers and national/international book chains. They’d got through until rising rents in their town made it impossible for them to remain at their historical location. The owners could find a shop to rent nearby, but with funds tight, making the move itself seemed an overwhelming challenge.
That was until the word got out that this beloved little bookshop needed help. They put out a “call” for volunteers to help with the move, expecting a few kind souls to show up on the designated Sunday. On the day of the move, over 200 local people showed up. Standing shoulder to shoulder and spanning the gap between the existing shop and the new shop, they created a human chain.
A book would start its journey when Amy, or one of the other part-time shop workers, placed a book in the hands of the first volunteer. Then, hand to hand, that book would make its way through hundreds of sets of hands from its old home to its new home. And that is how it went, book after book–until every book was safely shelved in its new location.
Amy, her team, and the hundreds of volunteers–young and old–worked “with” each other and could move all the books in the shop in under two hours. What had started as a depressing and challenging moment–no money, losing the shop, looking for options–became magic as a community of readers and just people who cared–came together with each other to find a new home for the books, the shop and Amy and her team.
