Boca Raton, FL  - Patricia Hersh, volunteer, Friends of the Boca Raton Public Library bookstore, downtown Boca Raton Public Library

Q:  Have 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 fulfillling 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, China 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.