As the wildfires continue to rage in our region, people are mobilizing to support the communities affected and the brave firefighters working so hard.
Booksellers and customers from bookstores including Third Street Books in McMinnville, OR, Village Books in Bellingham, WA, Beach Books in Seaside, OR, Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA, Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, WA, Island Books in Mercer Island, WA, University Book Store in Seattle, WA, and Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle have donated to the Chelan Valley Fire Relief Fund, a charity recommended by Libby Manthey, owner of Riverwalk Books in Chelan, WA– a town that has been greatly affected by the fires. Village Books has even been matching customer donations!
Click here to go to a listing of Fire Relief Funds you can donate to through the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, including the Chelan Valley Fire Relief Fund.
In addition to donating to fire relief fund, you can also help support small business like Riverwalk Books by continuing to purchase from them! Although power outages and evacuations may affect business and the evacuations and poor air quality have definitely impacted tourism and sales, local stores like Riverwalk Books have websites where you can buy books and ebooks online, and purchases of gift certificates (call 509.682.8901 to buy during business hours: 10-6 M-Sat, 10-4 on Sundays) are a great way to put your money where your heart is.
A Pacific Northwest literary institution, the new artists’ residency, the Mineral School, is contributing to firefighting efforts in a very unique and practical way. The property is serving as an incident command site for 140 firefighters, including a team of 30 convict firefighters. On Tuesday this week, the nonprofit hosted the community fire meeting, with over 200 neighbors gathering in the Mineral School gym to learn about the Alder Lake Fire and how to stay safe.
Mineral School looked on the bright side on their Facebook page this week: “At least no one can complain there’s no writing inspiration in our small community.”
Our thoughts remain with those affected by the fires.