Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report, probably brought to you by Kraken Sceptic
for this Monday, September 29th, 2025.
Have your host, James here.
We're joined right now by our friends from the Wisconsin Rapids and Moravian Church.
We have Reverend Beth Hathager with us.
Oh, Beth, good to see you.
Good to see you.
And Alice Levine with us.
Alice, it's always good to see you.
How you been?
I've been good.
It's Lavin.
Lavin?
Did I say it wrong?
Sorry.
Lavin?
Thank you.
Appreciate that.
Thank you so much.
And always appreciate you joining us, Alice.
Thanks a lot for being here.
Thank you both for being here.
We're going to talk a little about a couple of events, key events going on over there.
But first off, want to start off with the community book sale happening October 9th and
Tathbeth.
Yes.
It's coming up.
It's our annual sale.
It's also going to be the 11th.
That's our bag sale that Saturday.
It's when you can come and get a bag of books for $2.
Put as many books as you can in that bag.
We'll give you a paper bag and take that home for $2.
The other two days, most of our books are a dollar.
We do have some rare books and some series books that we especially price.
But we are busy getting that ready.
It begins at, I believe, 8.30 on all three of those days, go still six o'clock on Thursday
and Friday until one o'clock on Saturday.
It's a popular event.
One that's so popular that when we first moved to this area, it was one of the early things
that we had heard about.
And it's a good event.
And it also, it comes with a lot of heart with it because the proceeds for this go into
something very special.
That's right.
It all goes to scholarships at Mid-State Technical College for non-traditional students.
So when the book sale was originally created by the American Association of University
Women, they set up scholarships specifically for women who had been stay at home moms
that were looking to create a career and go out and get a job.
So they wanted to create a scholarship to make that easier for these women.
Because it's progressed, we've kind of said, let's make it more open and to a non-traditional
student, especially after COVID, when there are so many people that are changing careers.
If you're not a high schooler coming into college, there weren't a lot of scholarship options.
So all of the proceeds from this sale go towards scholarship to help those that are doing
something non-traditional, getting a second career, maybe changing careers, to give them
that opportunity.
It's a wonderful thing to be able to do, especially for a gray area of our society that we don't
always get a lot of attention to.
It's wonderful to see that you guys see that, notice that, and have been doing this, and
you've been doing this for a couple of years, this particular way of doing it.
Yes, I think we've been doing this, what for Alice has been with it for three years,
but the book sale itself, we've had probably for 10 or 15 years now.
And when it comes to the money that you're spending, there's that part of it too that
these books are reasonably priced, doesn't feel like I'm giving it justified, it's way
lower than reasonably priced, I would say, it's probably the better way I can put it.
Absolutely.
We want to make sure that it's affordable for everyone.
Alice has been doing a great job of getting it organized and making sure things are ready
to go.
And we actually raised the price a little bit ago on some of the books, but there's still,
I mean, a lot less than what you would go to a bookstore to get.
Yeah, when it comes to that prep, can we touch on that just a little bit, because I love
the audience to know a little bit of, not only they love to know how the sausage is made,
but I just, hopefully it brings a little more appreciation for everything it takes to make
this event happen.
These books are collected throughout the year, right, Beth, that your book bins and that
and Alice.
The book then gets put out on Memorial Day weekend, and then we usually bring it in on September
15th, so we can get things sort, like from May until now, they're still sorting books.
Yeah.
I have a really great lady, Rosemary, who she takes control of it.
She sets up, she doesn't set up the tables, but she gets the books all sorted and put it
boxes.
So when we come in, we can just take the box and put it on the correct table.
Alice, it is the majority, if not all, volunteers doing this work, right?
Correct.
Yep.
And not only does that take time, but then separating these as you're saying, they're
in everything and then separating them by, because you guys, when my mom was blown away
by this part, maybe more than anything else, the prices, yes, the big stuff, we'll talk
about that in a moment.
But when she came in and the organization of the basement and the way that this is all
set up, and you guys separating these by genre on that, correct.
We have like cookbooks, fitness, young adult, fiction, paperback.
We have all kinds.
Every genre possible, I think.
And we just got new signs, so they're beautiful, so people can, excuse me, see like
what table they want to go to right away.
Yeah.
And we want to give a big thank you out to Quality Plus Printing and Fill for making those
signs for us.
They worked with us.
There were probably five different emails back and forth to make sure that they were
just the way that we wanted them, and they turned out beautifully.
Mm-hmm.
And all that being said, and this is all really wonderful at everything, but I cannot always
wait to get to the free baked goods and coffee, like a browse.
There is never better baked goods than the ones you find in church maker, church goers
make.
It's just verbatim.
That's coming from me.
It's the truth, people.
And that is a real, in all seriousness, that is a really sweet part of this, and I think
it shows the above and beyond of this event.
Yeah, and that pun was not even intended.
But yeah, the sweets and the baked goods are made by the members of our congregation,
and it's wonderful to have a place we'll have coffee and other beverages, some comfy chairs
so that if you wanted to peruse the books and look through them before you buy them,
you have a chance to do that as well.
You know, and I kind of, I feel like I skated past it too quickly and everything, because
for one, this event is so popular, and it's been talked about for so long and everything
that I guess it's just common knowledge, but we have normalized it a little bit.
The price of these books is so affordable for families, and any family out there listening,
and we have so many nonprofits that do little things like this all the time that I, we
talk about in these interviews and everything, but I don't think we really take a moment
to just appreciate where everything is being risen nowadays, and the price of everything
is higher than it was a year or two ago or something.
We see so many of our great nonprofits, and churches out there, different organizations
in particular, just doing this, just keeping these sales and keeping these numbers where
we've always seen them, and it is so appreciated by this community that we're, you know, and
noted, and hopefully gets even more people out there to want to get some of these books.
Beth, we were talking about the dates and times of this, again, October 9th, 10th, 830-6,
and then October 11th, 830-1, October 11th is unique for not just the time, but this
is the famous bag sale part of this.
Right.
For $2, we'll give you a grocery paper bag, and you go through, and you fill that bag, and
you take all of those books home for just $2.
You know those moments where your parents embarrass you a little bit, and you never really
forget them or anything?
That usually happens when you're a kid, you know, when you're younger.
I didn't really have a lot of that with my parents growing up.
It wasn't until this moment, in particular, that I could still remember my mother, like,
basically almost refusing and wanting to pay more, like, for any, like, she didn't believe
it.
She didn't know way that she fit all those books in there for $2, and I'm going to get
to take this home for $2.
It's just impossible.
My mom, books that she has not kept, other ones she has recycled and put in, but it
just, it speaks to all you book lovers out there.
This is your event.
This is one of those great events.
I also think one thing that is noteworthy about the community book sale is when this
first got started, we had a lot more, like, just, you know, book trade shops and book,
shop, the second hand book shops, and a lot of those.
We've lost so many of those over the years that I think this sale has become even more
important in that regard as well, like, all the reasons we've talked about, but also
is just the idea of people missing being able to do something like this.
And we have repeat visitors.
We have people that look forward to this, and we start getting phone calls, usually in
September, early September, asking, when is the book sale, are you doing the book sale
again?
And that second question is more because we had to put it on hold during COVID.
For two years, we didn't.
And it's nice to be able to bring it back and have it for the community, because they
do look forward to it, and it's nice to be known as a church that's there for the community
that offers these kinds of things.
I know that some of our listeners are, you know, up from out of town taking in this segment
and everything.
So I wanted to remind everybody that there's another way to impact things as well, even
if you are from out of town or you're not able, maybe you're out of town during those
dates or something.
Got gift certificates available, right?
We do.
We have a special website, I believe it's on the flyer.
So there's an email.
It is.
Let me see.
Is it to you?
Community book sale at gmail.com.
You can email us there, and we will work with you to get gift certificates.
We have a couple that have already been sold.
Some of our members like to buy them and give them to family to be able to use.
And we will be once again giving some to the station, both WFHR and WIRI to text to
win to get them into the hands of listeners as well.
It's awesome.
We love giving things away, right?
Thank you very much for that.
That's really nice.
And great thing to offer as a part of this and everything.
When it comes to sales and people purchasing these books, are you able to help ways?
Should we encourage them to bring cash or do they have a card reader available?
We take cash, check, and credit cards available.
And then we have like, so they can take a card if they want to purchase a lot of books.
And they go to the holding area and we have, you know, where they can like, look through
them again and go to the refreshments stand and the comfy chairs.
We have a lot of book collectors that come.
So they buy a lot of books.
We also have canvas bags that we are selling as well that you can use and take your books
home in that.
Well, and you're going to be back next year.
So those canvas bags, you're going to get your money as well as that little set of
everything.
You just keep bringing them back and stuff.
And I cannot wait for this one.
We'll be certainly typing it up on our shows.
But the community book sale coming up October 8th, and I'm sorry, October 9th, and 10th,
830 to 6.
The bag sale will be that October 11th, 830 to 1.
Keep that one in mind.
Keep in mind that this is also a great event because 100% of the proceeds, 100% go to
mid-state techno college scholarships, be a part of impacting the future and get some
great reading material right here, especially the colder months are right around the corner.
You want some new books to read and some of that.
It's a great opportunity for you.
And if you're like James Vom and think that that's too little to pay for a bag or a book,
we will take donations that are beyond what we're charging as well.
Keep that in mind, everybody.
And we'll give you more information on how to reach out to the team in a moment here
and stuff.
But I do want to take a brief moment set, Beth, to remind everybody about trivia coming
up.
The two doors brewing.
Yes, that's right.
The Greater Rapids area, Churcheswork Humanism, or the Grace Group in town, is having another
fundraiser.
We're doing the trivia event went so well this past winter that we're doing it again,
but we're doing it in the fall.
So this coming Saturday, October 5th, from 4 to 6 p.m.
We head on down to Beast Tap House.
We're doing a silent auction and trivia event.
This year, we are limiting teams to a maximum of six, just so that it becomes a little bit
more competitive.
We had one team of, I think, about 20 people last year, and then we had teams of one person.
So we want to try and make it a little bit more equitable, but it's going to be a lot
of fun.
They have opened up their bar and restaurant so that you can get food while you're there.
We've got some great items that are going to be able to be bitted on at our silent auction.
And all of the proceeds from that particular event are going to help pay off student debt
at school so that our seniors can walk at graduation and start that next chapter of their
life without that kind of a debt.
I found out the hard way I was serious this area takes trivia.
Oh, yeah.
I just got to, oh, they're just doing this world's biggest trivia contest.
So come on down.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I was there all weekend.
I did not go home that whole weekend.
I was answering questions, entertaining questions and everything.
People love trivia around here and the thing that they love even more than that is doing
it for a good cause.
Right.
And it will be done by two of our own voices here on the station, SF and myself.
Hey, you guys are going to do a great job with this.
You're going to have a lot of fun with this one.
The only challenge is getting Seth not to answer the question right after he gives the
question.
It's going to be tough on you, but he's got you there.
So here we are.
I know how to keep him silent.
Yes.
And that's one of the reasons we have him hosting rather than playing because he pretty
much knows a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I just want to say a special shout out to two doors down brewing company here in
Rapids.
You hear us mention them so often doing things like this hosting, things event, opening their
doors for different nonprofits in our community.
Big shout out to them.
Love the gang over there.
Great people.
Also, really great bar.
Great service.
Great stuff over there.
You don't keep that in mind when you're looking to hang out.
Of course, keep this one in mind Sunday, October 5th, four to six at two doors down brewing
company at 140 East Grand Avenue right here in Rapids.
Join them for this great trivia night.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I want to know.
If people have follow up questions, they'd like to know more about some what we talked about
today, Beth.
And learn more not only about this, but maybe about some of the other services and other
events you have going on with them, Ravian Church.
What's the best way for them to reach you?
You can find us at our website, www.armeravian. I believe it's org.
I want to make, I always confuse org and cons.
Don't blame me.
www.armeravian.org.
And there is a specific tab, I think, or if you go to events, it will, you'll find our
flyer for the book sale.
And you can check out what other things we offer.
We also have a YouTube channel if you're interested in checking out what our services are like.
Go to Wisconsin Rapids, Moravian Church on YouTube, and we put all of our services on there
as well.
Be sure to follow them on social media, share their posts on your page.
You just never know who might see them otherwise.
And of course, make time for the community book sale coming up October 9th and 10th,
830-6.
And of course, the bag sale, October 11th, 830-1, all taking place over at the Wisconsin
Rapids, Moravian Church at 310-1st Avenue South right here in Rapids.
Thank you for the time, YouTube.
Thank you, James.
Thank you.
And thank you, everybody, for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.
