HomeHealth Visiting Nurses is getting out of the bookselling business after operating charity book stores in Biddeford and Sanford for more than 14 years.

York County Shelter Inc., based in Alfred, took over control of the bookstore on Main Street in Sanford and will oversee volunteers. HomeHealth Visiting Nurses donated the contents of the Biddeford store to Catholic Charities Maine.

The stores, called Books ReVisited, were established in the 1990s to raise money to support care of hospice and home health patients. The stores were staffed by volunteers, with the nonprofit HomeHealth Visiting Nurses providing operational and management support. The agency decided to shift away from the stores because of declining revenue and increasing costs to run the stores.

York County Shelter Inc. took over the Sanford book store in January. HomeHealth Visiting Nurses recently finalized its contribution to Catholic Charities Maine.

“We are so thankful to HomeHealth Visiting Nurses for thinking of our Threads of Hope thrift stores when they closed their bookstore,” said Stephen Letourneau, CEO of Catholic Charities Maine, in a prepared statement. “Sales from their generous donation of books, shelving and furniture will enable us to further our mission of serving Maine’s most vulnerable populations through our 25 social service programs.”

Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:ggraham@pressherald.comTwitter: @grahamgillian