These days, the opening of a bookstore anywhere on the planet is cause for a celebration but the opening of The Next Chapter Bookstore in Gainesville, GA is truly a remarkable event.
The bookstore is the latest outreach program from Our Neighbor, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of physically handicapped men and women. It is the brainchild of the organization’s founder Marty Owens and a volunteer and former bookseller D’ete Sewell.
The store is staffed by young adults with disabilities.
On how the store came about, Sewell says “We had nowhere for these guys to work, and the only thing I know is books, So I started asking for donations and looked around for a place to put the books.”
And the community responded:
The landlord offered the space at reduced rent.
A local woman donated 2,000 quality books from her husband’s collection.
The local transit system, Hall Are Transit, adjusted one of its routes so they can pick up some of the store’s employees and bring them to work.
Gainesville City Councilwoman Myrtle Figueras already can see the book store making a difference in lives of the young employees. “You see the joy in the eyes of these young people” says Figueras.
Story in the Gainesville Times, Bookstore opens to ‘open doors’