BROOKINGS The Friends of the Library are wrapping up the year with a gift-wrapping fundraiser to benefit Brookings Public Library. This Thursday through Sunday, get your Christmas presents wrapped by making a donation to support library programming.
This is the second time weve done this, Sara Bakken, president of the Friends of the Library, said. We had a number of patrons really excited last year to have their gifts wrapped with care and love by our volunteers and to be able to donate to the library while getting their gifts wrapped. Its always nice being able to do some good with something that you have to do anyway.
The paper, ribbons and bows have all been donated by library patrons.
Well just be in the lobby. When you walk into the library, youll see us, Bakken said. As people finish their shopping in downtown Brookings bring it into the library, check out some books to get through the cold winter months and get your gifts wrapped while youre here.
A donation is requested, based on the size of the item.
For small items like a book, jewelry, maybe a watch or an iPad or some type of small toys those would be $3 per gift. A medium item so think shirt-box size or boardgame size would be $5 per gift. And anything larger would be $7, Bakken said. And those are suggested donation prices. So certainly if you have something really extra-large and want to give more, or if you have a little less to provide this year and just need to get your gift wrapped, were still happy to get that for whatever you can provide.
The money raised goes to the library, and Bakken said its a great service for those who feel clumsy while working with wrapping paper.
I would say that were skilled gift-wrappers. You know, none of us went to a gift-wrapping university, Bakken joked. I will be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And I actually did spend some time in college working at a Hallmark store, so I think thats probably as close as you can get to a gift-wrapping school.
Last years event brought in $600 for the library.
Wed of course love to increase that this year, Bakken said. But also part of the reason that we do it is just continuing to build awareness of our organization and to provide engagement opportunities for our volunteers.
She said, now more than ever, its important for organizations like theirs to continue supporting local libraries.
I think the library is a really special place. And ours in particular I think what makes it so special is organizations like the Friends of the Library that really help supplement and go above and beyond what the bare necessities of a budget can cover, Bakken said. Our library is a really special place that provides for our community in so many ways beyond checking out books, and it always has been. I agree that now more than ever, really trying to create these safe and supportive places in our community where people can go to get resources, to use the internet, to really get help with things that they need to engage with their community is important But I think I would say that at any given time in history.
She said they always welcome new members.
At the library theres information on how to become a member of the Friends of the Library. And of course we meet monthly sometimes we do take January off, Bakken said. We usually meet the second Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. upstairs at the library. And anyones welcome to join our meetings as a guest. We have a lot of fun, we plan our fundraisers together and we get to participate and engage with the librarians in deciding how we spend that fundraised money with them.
In October they coordinated the annual fall book sale and recently donated that money to the library.
We were just under $8,000 which was our biggest book sale yet, Bakken said. (It supports) a number of things just really spread out across a variety of the various departments of the library. Generally some goes towards adult programming things like the Spice of the Month Club, which is something that the Friends of the Library has consistently provided the funding for. We include in our donations almost always the play-away products so thats the books and electronic resources that will read aloud to you as you turn the pages.
Additionally, they were able to provide special event seating for the teen department, updated signage in the childrens department, organizers for the magazine department and money to continue bringing guest speakers to the library.
The gift-wrapping fundraiser runs Dec. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m.; Dec. 20 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.; Dec. 21 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.; and Dec. 22 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
We do what we can, and one of the things that I love the most about the organization is that its fun certainly to be in the seat of the president role but we dont take ourselves too seriously and we have a lot of fun, Bakken said. We are a good partner to our library, I just love our little group and Ive made so many really great friends through this organization.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
Leave a Reply