FRIENDS OF THE
SELINSGROVE COMMUNITY LIBRARY
Annual Report to Members
2005
2005 has been an
active and successful year for Friends of the Selinsgrove Community
Library as we continue our efforts to promote and raise funds for
our library.
2005 Board
At our annual
meeting in December 2004, new officers were elected to the board
effective January 1, 2005. At that time we had no candidate for
Vice President.
Officers
President Elizabeth Heim
Secretary Barbara Grubb
Treasurer Janis Gemberling
Members of the Board
Joyce Bilger
(Fundraising) Carol Bull (Past
President)
Charles Bull (Publicity) Fran
Carroll
Walt Hagenbuch (Membership) Grace Housley
Cindy O’Hora (Information) Pat
Reiland-Hess
Pat Wendt (Library board liaison)
Linda Wieder (Fundraising)
Betsy Fordon and Barbara McGary of the Library attend our board
meetings.
Early in 2005,
Deborah Bernhisel kindly agreed to fill the position of Vice
President; she was appointed by the board for a one year term with a
second year to be voted on by the membership at the 2005 annual
meeting.
2004 Gifts to the Library
Near the end of the year, the library gives Friends a “wish
list” setting out various items, services or programs that the
library feels would enhance its service to and/or enrich the
community. Funding for these items is not available in the library
budget. In 2004 Friends donated $12,000 to the library, providing
funding for the following items:
-
Award-winning
children’s books
-
Puppet theatre
& puppets for pre-school story hour
-
Dial-A-Story –
a 24/7 telephone story service for children
-
Summer reading
program assistance
-
Tutor.com for
live homework help from certified teachers over the internet
-
Public
performance license, 25” DVD/TV combo and comfortable seating
for teen movie nights
2005 Gifts to the Library
Until our crock
sale is completed, we cannot say with certainty how many items on
the library’s 2005 “wish list” can be funded by Friends. We hope,
however, to be able to be at least as generous as last year.
2005 Major Fundraisers
Our major
fundraisers for 2005 were the book sale, the quilt raffle and the
sale of collectible, numbered crocks.
A successful book
sale was held in May 2005 in the community room of the borough
building. We made $970 at the sale and applied for and received an
additional $400 in matching funds grant money from Thrivent. Later
in 2005 we were delighted to be able to arrange a larger storage
space in the borough building, so bring in your book donations – we
have a place to put them now! No textbooks, condensed books or
books in poor condition, please. We will be having a book sale in
May 2006 and are going to be exploring expanding that sale. 2005 is
the third year for book sales.
The warm, cozy
flannel quilt was Amish made by Nora Martins Quilt Shop in
Mifflinburg, PA. Tickets were sold at various events during the
year and the drawing held at the Selinsgrove Street Fair on the
fourth Saturday in September. This is the third year we have
sponsored the quilt raffle.
Our 2005
collectible crock features the Governor Snyder mansion and this year
we are including a pamphlet detailing the history of the mansion.
We’re grateful to Don Housley for his time and expertise in
developing such an attractive, informative brochure. As in the
past, the crocks were made by Bjuno Pottery in Adamstown, PA and
each is consecutively numbered and includes a “Friends” stamp. The
crocks are priced at $40 each and 500 crocks have been ordered for
2005. We do not have final sales figures at this time. 2005 is the
third year Friends have offered this fundraiser. We raise more
money for the library from the sale of crocks than from any other
event.
2005 Major Awareness Raising Events
One Book:Killer
Angels
In 2005 five area
libraries, including Selinsgrove Community Library collaborated to
present a One Book One Community project. A member of our Friends
group served on the One Book:Killer Angels task force. In addition,
we arranged a popular and well-attended bus tour (two buses) to
Gettysburg National Park in August 2005. The Gettysburg trip was
acknowledged to be a highlight of the many events associated with
One Book:Killer Angels. Considerable publicity was generated by
this area-wide initiative with important awareness raising
opportunities for our library.
2005 Tree Fest of
Children’s Books
Our second annual
Tree Fest event commenced December 2, 2005 at All Saints Episcopal
Church in Selinsgrove and will end at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, December
16. There are 23 decorated trees and 9 wreaths, an increase over
last year’s numbers. More than 350 children are scheduled to visit
Tree Fest during special tours, substantially up from last year.
Tree Fest is our most important and impressive awareness raising
event. I watched 100 elementary school children tour Tree Fest on
Monday; looking at their faces light up and hearing them discuss
which tree is their favorite, reminds me of why we do Tree Fest. It
is a truly awesome and magical event and one that our Friends group
is proud to sponsor. We have funded the purchase of a copy of each
of the children’s books used in Tree Fest to add to the library’s
children’s collection.
Ongoing Challenges
Help Needed
Organizations lose
good people who move away or on to other worthwhile endeavors. To
continue to support the structure we have established, our Friends
group needs help in the following areas:
-
Managing a
membership database
-
Managing our
website and quarterly newsletter
-
Managing
publicity
Without ongoing
help in these areas there is concern as to whether we can continue
to support the library to the same degree as we have done in the
past.
Now you, our
members, know everything we’ve been up to in 2005! We’re proud of
what’s been achieved and we hope you’re proud to be a member of
Friends of the Selinsgrove Community Library. I want to personally
thank you, our membership, for your continued support. I also want
to thank all the people who have volunteered their help for various
events, and last but most certainly not least, many thanks to each
dedicated and hard-working Friends board member.
Let’s continue the
good work into 2006.
Elizabeth Heim,
President
837-1672
polkadot@earthlink.net
