Meet: Patricia Hersh a volunteer for the Friends of the Boca Raton Public Library bookstore, downtown Boca Raton Public Library
Q: How long have you been volunteering with the Friends?
A: I have been volunteering at the bookstore for three years. I was volunteering at a cancer center for several years and wanted a different environment. Catherine Vanden Broeck, the volunteer coordinator at Boca Raton City Hall, suggested the Friends bookstore at the library because I love books, and she said the women who volunteer there are so nice. She was right! I have really enjoyed meeting and working with some of the special women who are my colleagues at the bookstore.
Q: What's your favorite thing about volunteering at the bookstore?
A: It is so fulfilling to be able to help a customer find a book or an author he/she is looking for or to suggest one that they might enjoy. We have so many "regulars" who come by weekly. It is fun getting to know them. Another thing I enjoy about working at the bookstore is discovering new authors and novels that I will like.
Q: What are your favorite books that the bookstore sells and why?
A: I enjoy fiction, especially historical novels or novels involving foreign places such as India, Chin
a or Africa. I am currently reading The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker, which is wonderful! I have also just read Paris: the novel by Edward Rutherfurd, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani.
Q: What is something people might not know about you?
A: I have lived here in Coral Springs and Boca Raton for 39 years. Prior to moving here, I worked as a teacher of disadvantaged children in Irvington, New York. When I came to south Florida, I could not find a nursery school to my liking for my preschool age son, so I started a coop nursery school with other mothers in the area. My son's preschool education cost me $150 and a few bottles of wine for when the mothers met to create the monthly syllabus! I also once ran a business working as a companion for senior citizens that I called, "Pampering by Patricia." I also love art, and over the years, have done some sculpturing in stone.
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