The Book Thing
The Book Thing is a 501(c) non-profit charity, located in Baltimore in the USA, created in September 1999 for the purpose of giving away books. It was created and is operated by Russel Wattenberg, a former bartender who was inspired to create a system for distributing books to impoverished students<ref name="New York Times">Template:Cite news</ref>. The estimated amount of books at The Book Thing is 200,000, and they come from a variety of sources including people, businesses, and organizations. The Book Thing was incorporated by a board of neighborhood volunteers. The Book Thing is open on weekends and is run by around 30 volunteers. <ref name="New York Times" />
