LAUREL — You can find just about any type of book at The Novel Refuge, from new to the classics, fiction and non-fiction. Every book, puzzle and game in the bookstore is donated and every purchase is donated to charity.
"Our mission is to provide funding for local refugee and immigrant services, also to keep books out of landfills, also focus on education and literacy," said Kathy Bittinger, the executive director of The Novel Refuge.
Bittinger is a former educator and said her volunteer work with refugee settlements inspired her to start the charity-centric bookstore. It opened in October of 2024.
"I tried to come up with a way to increase the amount of revenue that [families] would receive every month for things like rent and food assistance and all of those things that families coming to this country need but aren’t in a position to do for themselves yet.," she said. "They will be, but they’re not there yet."
The bookstore is run entirely off volunteers, like Dorice Wang, who wanted a place where she and her kids could volunteer together.
"The fact that there was a store that could give back all of the profits to help the community was such a wonderful way for us as a family to be fully involved in that way," Wang said.
Other volunteers echoed that sentiment, saying they enjoy spending time in the store, talking to customers and supporting the mission.
"I think this is a time when we look out for our neighbors and this is a good way to do it," said volunteer Katherine Leonard.
"Working in a bookstore doesn’t get any better than that but also non profits are just so critical," said Pearl Seidman, a volunteer.
When Bittinger opened the bookstore in 2024, she had no idea immigration would be the lightning rod issue it has become.
"I think that has increased our customers in some ways because they care and they want to help other people," she said. "All walks of people walk through our front door and we really consider this a safe space for people."
Bittinger said it's been a challenge to get the bookstore up and running. In the tough times, she thinks of the positive moments, like the time a boy came in with his family to shop.
"They actually had just moved here to this country so he didn’t have a home library yet. He was very excited that he was going to get to take a book home and keep it and put it on his shelf and read it as many times as he wants," she said.
"It has been a labor of love and a lot of work but it has also been extremely rewarding and I never feel badly when I’m in this store."
The Novel Refuge rotates the nonprofit it supports every quarter. It is donating proceeds to the New Neighbors Interfaith Alliance now through March.
