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FOPAL’S Popular Monthly Sales Depend On Your Generous Donations! |
Please Bring Us Your Books, DVDs, Games, Puzzles, and Software
At our monthly book sales, Friends of the Palo Alto Library finds new readers/users for your donated items and contributes net proceeds to purchase new materials, technology, and furniture for the Palo Alto libraries. During 2000-2018, FOPAL contributed over $3 million!
ITEMS WE ARE TEMPORARILY NOT ACCEPTING:
- Art (framed or unframed or frames)
- Electronics
- Posters
- Travel brochures
- Greeting and blank cards
- Plushies/Stuffed Animals
- Records (45s, 78s, LPs)
- Commercially recorded Music CDs
- Commercially recorded video tapes (VHS/Betamax)
FOPAL gladly accepts:
- Fiction and nonfiction books
- Textbooks and computer books
- Commercially recorded items: audio books on CDs or cassettes, movies on DVD, Blu-ray
- Software and manuals
- Printed Ephemera: black and white photos and all handwritten items (journals, letters, diaries, envelopes with stamps, postcards, historical and unusual material)
- Maps (folded or rolled) except AAA maps of the United States
- Puzzles, games, and toys
- Sheet music
Sorry, we cannot take:
- Soiled, moldy, water damaged, or partial books
(General Guideline: if you would not give it to a friend, please don’t give it to the Friends!) - Magazines or newspapers
- Reader’s Digest condensed books
- Encyclopedias
- Blank photo albums
- Small collectibles (figurines, bookends, souvenirs, etc.)
- Linens
- Clothing
- Sports equipment
- Home copied/burned or non-commercially recorded audio-visual materials
- Legal statutes or codes
- Large items such as furniture, lamps, suitcases, etc.
- American Automobile Association maps of the United States
Drop-off Location/Hours:
FOPAL is open for drop-off donations from Monday-Saturday, 3-5pm at our Main Room. No appointment needed!
FOPAL is pausing donations the 2nd week of each month as we prepare for the monthly sale. For May 2023, NO donations will be accepted Sunday, May 7 through Sunday, May 14.
Large Donation
If you have a large donation (more than six bags or boxes), please call Janette Herceg, FOPAL Volunteer & Sales Manager, at (650) 494-1266 to make an appointment for delivery of your large donation.
Pickup Donations
We do pick up some donations. Our pickup team is volunteers driving their own trucks, minivans, and cars, and their availability and effort are limited. We pick up from Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Stanford, Atherton, Woodside, and Mountain View. You need to have at least seven boxes for us to pick up, and they need to be of manageable size and weight, like 10″ x 12″ x 15″ banker/file boxes or copier paper boxes. We have flattened empty banker/file boxes available for you, just ask! We need to have places to park our vehicles for loading, and a clear path that doesn’t involve a lot of stairs or other obstructions. We also need at least a week to schedule a pickup, and no pickups will be scheduled in the week before our monthly sale or on the days of our monthly sale (second Saturday of the month and the following Sunday). If you can meet those requirements, call (650) 308-8469 and leave a message for our pickup team. They will get back to you to schedule a pickup.
Your donations are tax-deductible. Be sure to ask for a receipt.