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Meet Kendra with Friends' of the Library Bookstore

Meet Kendra Ryan with Friends of the Library Bookstore in downtown Rochester. She is one of the many volunteers in the female-centric environment (63 of the 69 volunteers are women) at the bookstore.

About Friends of the Library Bookstore

The Friends Bookstore inside the Rochester Public Library is run entirely by volunteers. All of our books are donated and proceeds from store sales provide vital support to the library. Last year, the Friends’ Bookstore gave the library $75,000. In the winter, the store is open seven days a week. Bookstore volunteers do a variety of tasks during their three-hour shift: shelving new books; culling old stock; keeping certain areas alphabetized; and, most importantly, helping customers and ringing up sales. One of the best parts of the job is simply chatting with customers about books, books, books!

How do you balance your business and your personal life?

The Friends Bookstore is an amazing place to volunteer. I feel like I am making a difference, even if I volunteer one day a month. They make it easy for me to balance my work, volunteer, and personal life.

What new projects or future plans are you looking forward to?

In addition to running the Friends Bookstore day-to-day operations, we host several book sales throughout the year. Our next sale is during Rochesterfest starting June 22 at the library.

 


Update as of March 12, 2020: For the safety and health of downtown business employees and attendees, the Rochester Downtown Alliance is postponing Ladies’ Night Out amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) concern. We make decisions like this with the utmost care and consider local, state, and national updates. We look forward to bringing you community events you love soon.