The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is asking members to join together on Saturday to raise funds to assist others affected by disaster conditions in the Gulf Coast region as well as for future emergency situations.

Booksellers are being encouraged to donate a percentage of the day's sales, determined by the individual store, to the Bookseller Relief Fund, which will provide humanitarian relief to individuals for such items as temporary housing, food, clothing, transportation, medical expenses and/or other personal items lost or damaged. The funds will not be granted to rebuild a business.

ABA has not received any reports of booksellers' serious injury or death, but stores such as Bookends Bookstore in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, Miss., have been completely destroyed. Other stores in New Orleans still pose the question if they will be forced to close or when they will reopen.

The Booksellers Relief Fund, which ABA started with a donation of $25,000, will be used to meet the needs of booksellers who need food, housing and transportation.

“In the face of the tragedy in the Gulf, many booksellers have generously opened their homes and offered money and jobs to help their colleagues,” said ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. “Our hope is that this in-store effort on Oct. 1 will further aid recovery in the bookselling community.”

The Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) announced this week that it will match the $25,000 initial funding from ABA.

“As hurricane season has become a part of the Southern landscape in recent years, it is important that there be an avenue for booksellers who suffer from disasters,” said SEBA President Sally Brewester. “Many SEBA bookstores, even as far back as Hurricane Hugo, have suffered losses and there has not been a way to directly help those bookstores.”

SEBA represents booksellers in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and Mississippi.