VERO BEACH — Since April 2009, members of both the Treasure Coast Council of the U.S. Navy League and Indian River Chapter of MOAA have been collecting used paperback books and sending them to military personnel around the world.
As of July 29, 685 books have been sent from Vero Beach. The program is known as Operation Paperback, which is headquartered in Dunstable, Mass., and began in 1999 by sending its first shipments to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In addition to 30 overseas locations, Operation Paperback provides books to military and veterans hospitals located within the United States, as well as USO centers at US Airport transit points.
Individual citizens, American families and community groups have formed a network of volunteer shippers that have sent over 950,000 books since Operation Paperback began.
For further information, contact volunteer shipper Don Wickstrand at donwickstrand@comcast.net.