Friday, September 16, 2011

A town without a library...Help Needed!

When a natural disaster strikes, it can either pass some towns by or become a destructive force in others. While the towns that get hit hard receive media coverage, it’s mainly focused on large or well-known metropolitan areas. Schoharie County in upstate NY is the victim of both Hurricanes Irene and Lee, which destroyed their local libraries. Since they are such a small town, they have only received local media coverage, but never made national news. There was an article on CNN, but it would have been missed if you didn't know it was there. (Eatocracy.) They need all sorts of items, including tools, batteries, storage supplies, gloves, food, clothing, cleaning supplies, etc.





While the community has been pulling together, neighbor helping neighbor, to clean, muck, tear down and rebuild homes and local farms, there are little resources currently to help the libraries that also were severely damaged from the storms.




Therefore, Chick Lit Central is posting this message in hopes that you can help Schoharie County's libraries. Right now, they need money for rebuilding, set-up and maintenance costs. If you can contribute any funding to their library (via your own pocketbook or by starting a fundraiser in your town or at your school) or even pass the word along so that other people can help them if they have the means to do so, this would mean the world to their community. They’re a small farming town, so reading is a huge pastime for the residents and they rely heavily on their libraries to fulfill their reading needs.

Please let us know how you can help or feel free to contact Jamie Craig or visit her Facebook group for ways to help.

Here are some local articles from their town:

Watershed Post

DailyGazette.com

This is a link to their county’s weekly newspaper with several local stories:

Times Journal

Websites for libraries:

Schoharie Library

Middleburgh Library

Thank you for any help you can provide, from donating books to just passing this message along.


2 comments:

Nina said...

Thank you for posting this and spreading awareness!

JM GB said...

Hi- I just wanted to emphasize that right now, the libraries need money. Before they can reopen and rebuild their collections, they need to replace sheetrock, carpeting, furniture, office equipment, office supplies (do you know how much copy paper costs!?!), rewire the buildings, pay for inspections, fix the elevator mechanics, etc. Cash is the only thing that will help meet those needs. Donation info is available here: http://www.mvls.info/blog/2011/09/08/hurricane-irene/. Also, folks don't realize that libraries purchase their materials through specific vendors that offer deep discounts to library customers (typically up to 40% off list price on hardcover books.) So someone could spend $20 to purchase 1 book at retail price, or they could give the $20 to the library and they could buy 2 books with that same $20. As they get closer to reopening, I am sure both Schoharie and Middleburgh libraries will be asking for specific items that they need. But until then, money is definitely the way to go.