SORT: Sort Books for San Diego

Volunteers sort, organize, shelve, and box used books for distribution to other non-profit groups. You'll unload and organize books from large containers on palettes onto book shelves in the warehouse (organized by category, e.g., fiction, how-to, mystery) or into packing boxes, as directed (for delivery to a particular group, e.g., elementary school or prison). The San Diego Book Project organizes and stocks the shelves on the Fourth Saturday of month; and teachers and organizations come to collect free books on the First Saturday of month.

This project uses a lot of boxes to ship and deliver books. If you have sturdy, empty boxes (not too large as books get heavy), please bring to donate. Smaller boxes are also useful for the teachers and organizations who collect books.

Project Requirements & Important Notes

• Attire: This is a dusty old warehouse – please wear old, comfortable clothes and closed-toe shoes. You may prefer to dress in layers, as the warehouse can be chilly, but then you get hot as work continues. The books are dusty -- some volunteers wear gloves and masks. We provide hand-sanitizer to clean your hands.

• Bring: Feel free to bring water, snacks, hand wipes, gloves, face mask, change for parking meters and a tote bag, if you find books you want to take home. There is no secure place to store purses, so please leave valuables locked in trunk of your car.

• Physical Ability: This project requires constant bending and lifting as volunteers sort paperback and hardcover books and place them into boxes and onto book shelves. The warehouse is not wheelchair accessible.  

About the San Diego Book Project

The San Diego Book Project's mission is to promote literacy. They provide books to people who need them but may not have sufficient resources to buy them. They believe owning books provides ready access to reading and is a critical step toward reading proficiency.