While it serves all of the book industry, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation has a special relationship with comics shops, says the organization’s program manager, Judey Kalchik. Before coming to work at Binc, she volunteered for its Covid recovery programs Survive to Thrive and Give Comics Hope. “I have a soft spot for comics shops, because I met them in a crisis,” she says. Four years later, Kalchik musters Binc’s resources to serve comics retailers on the front lines when disaster strikes, whether it’s large-scale crises, such as a hurricane or a wildfire, or more personal emergencies, like an owner’s unexpected illness.
What happens when you see a disaster coming, as with the recent L.A. wildfires and last year’s hurricanes?
I reach out to ComicsPRO—and they put a call out to stores. Then I do direct outreach. When the hurricanes came back-to-back in Florida last year, the very first call I got was from a comic shop—then that owner went door-to-door in Tampa and asked others, “Have you talked to Judey?”
How much of Binc’s aid goes to comics shops?
We’re waiting to get 2024 numbers, but I’m going to guesstimate about 20% of dollars, which is an uptick.
What qualifies a store for assistance?
If a store is closed a minimum of three days, or if its employees miss 50% or more of their salary, we can get started. One of the things we’ve learned is phone systems can get overwhelmed, but texts still work, so people can text me directly.
Binc has a free mental health service—what are some of its other programs?
Best Money Moves is our educational resource on budgeting and financial wellness. I learned how to do taxes and budgets in high school, and they don’t teach that anymore. So I make that available to absolutely everybody that contacts us—even if I can’t give them financial assistance, they get an invite to learn on their own.
What’s different about comics shops?
Most comic shops are sole proprietors, and when they’re sick, the store closes. That’s a big hit, especially with comics, because you get weekly shipments and if you’re closed, you can’t do your pull boxes. It’s unique to that environment that the loss of a week can have consequences months down the road.
Did you work with comics shops specifically during the California wildfires?
Yes. We were able to do a grant for a store’s reopening, but also for the owner and an employee, because with Binc, you don’t have to choose. I can help in a store disaster, but you’re already in the middle of a personal disaster: you’re not making money but you still need to pay rent. We can help with that, too.
