Empowering individuals to build a stronger community
Christmas in March? That’s what it felt like on March 15 of this year when Craig County Library participated for the first time in the Roanoke Valley Gives campaign. Encouraged by Debbie Snead of the Field of Dreams project, the Library Board of Trustees decided to give it a try.
The day arrived and who knew what would happen? Our results would be listed with those big boys in Roanoke with all the members – you know, places like Roanoke Catholic School and The Rescue Mission. Together with New Freedom Farm, Inc., those three organizations raised close to $189,000! What if we were at the bottom of a long list of organizations? Would that be embarrassing, pitiful even?
I had agreed to receive the emails that arrived with each donation. What fun! I became obsessed with checking my email account to see if we had yet another ‘package’ to open. Slowly the total grew, then more quickly with a larger donation. Soon I began to think we might break the $1000 mark, which somehow was a point where I felt we could hold our heads up with the better funded organizations in more populous places.
Have you heard the total? It came to $1065. This is a good first time out for this effort. We are so grateful to the Friends of the Library who often support us and delighted and glad for new names on the list. We will try this again next year and see how Christmas in March feels in 2018. A big thank you to all who support the library with money, time or talent. The library could not manage without you.
How to spend this chunk of money? There are many ways to use it. Some of the $1065 can pay for the refurbished book drop box. It looks wonderful now that the dents and rust are removed and it has fresh paint. When the weather warms, decals will be added. We are getting a motion sensor light for the back patio to help deter the vandals who have broken and marred things recently. Sturdy new shelves are being purchased for the second storage building so the many non-fiction books can be displayed and sold to anyone in need of a good book. That should leave enough to buy a Kindle Fire to be raffled off during National Library Week, April 9 – 15. Do come see us and let us thank you in person!
Martha Dillard, Library volunteer
Craig County Library