About our charities
All proceeds from this collection will support two charities near and dear to our hearts, both founded, supported, and run by Baen readers: Operation Baen Bulk and ReadAssist.
Welcome to Operation Baen Bulk
Operation Baen Bulk started in the fall of 2009, when one of our founders got a ninety-day layoff notice, and moved into the Layoff Pool. With nothing to keep him busy, he corresponded with a few deployed GIs (who were also members of the Baen’s Bar community) and noticed that while they had individual requests, there were a number of things they mentioned their entire outfit needed or wanted. And he needed a project to keep him sane while looking for a job with the economy going south. And thus was OBB born: a bunch of SF fans, all of whom read the military SF that Baen Books published, pooled our money and resources to insure that a training detachment in Afghanistan could have some personal hygiene products, Christmas trees and good coffee. The project kept our cofounder busy and productive until he found a better job. Along the way, he roped in a good friend and college classmate, who had also been active in sending supply items to the troops.
Along the way, we’ve provided for the oddball requests and creature comfort needs of several deployed units—snacks, books, flashlights, batteries, unbreakable coffee mugs, socks, sundries and BOOKS! We’ve even had military assistance at getting those supplies sent overseas. As the Afghanistan and Iraq deployments wound down, OBB turned our attention to helping injured troops by purchasing over eighty Kindle eBook readers, and loading them with over five hundred free and donated titles from Baen and other authors. We sent those Kindles to military treatment facilities and recovery centers around the country to provide reading enjoyment to troops recovering from deployment-related injuries.
But we couldn’t have done it without you. We all appreciate your contributions and the assistance of Baen Books. Thank you for your support.
—Rob Hampson and Keith Glass,
cofounders, Operation Baen Bulk.
ReadAssist
Information provided by Walt Boyes
Starting in 2000, Baen Barflies who wanted to help a fellow Barfly, Jimmy G., collected money and bought him assistive devices. When Jimmy, who had major physical problems affecting his ability to read, passed away in 2002, the Barflies decided to keep the organization, now called ReadAssist, and use it to help other science fiction and fantasy fans with reading disabilities. ReadAssist is a committee of Science Fiction Public Library, a not-for-profit organization founded by Eric Flint. ReadAssist provides funds and assistance for fans with reading disabilities, and administers a program for Baen Books that permits fans with disabilities to receive ebooks from Baen at no charge. ReadAssist can be found at www.readassist.org or by email at query@readassist.org.
Best,
Walt