August 2018
Learning Center Grand Opening
The Friends of the Library hosted the grand opening of the new Harald Haug Library Learning Center on Saturday, August 18, 2018. Seven Friends volunteers led tours of the new facility from noon until 3:00 p.m.  Event chairperson, Judi Collins, said 222 people took tours of the new meeting space, kitchen, technology center and upstairs conference room. Three Friends volunteers served refreshments from the new kitchen, and by the end of the tours at 3:30, there was only one gift-bag of home-baked cookies remaining and no lemonade. 100% of all our visitors were impressed with the stunning new addition to our library.
At 4:00, there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by our library director, Jeremy Skinner, making a short speech. When Jeremy introduced himself, the crowd erupted in applause in appreciation of his non-stop work in spearheading and directing this project.
Friends president, Jim Boyle, introduced best-selling author, Jim Lynch, who spoke to a crowd of over 120 people. His talk focused on how the wild side of the Pacific Northwest inspired and shaped his novels. He also shared his roller coaster writing journey, and his thoughts on the books that have influenced him. He was warm, personable, and funny, and during the question and answer time, one 12-year girl asked him if he was a comedian! Judging from the applause, laughter, and questions posed to Jim, this author talk was a huge success for our inaugural event in the new Learning Center.
February
Annual Book Sale
The Friends Book and Bake Sale takes place every year over Presidents’ Day weekend, Friday-Monday. One of the big perks of joining the Friends of Curry Public Library is gaining early admittance to the Book Sale on Friday night; non-members are not admitted to the sale until 9:00 a.m. Saturday.
May
Annual Month-long Silent Auction
The Friends started the annual Month-Long Silent Auction in 2010, and it has become our most lucrative fundraiser, pulling in more than $7,083.00 in 2019. In March, an appeal is sent to all Friends’ members and the Gold Beach community, requesting donations of items that are new or in like-new condition. Something that is taking up space in folks’ closets, spare bedrooms, or garages (a gift they never used, an impulse purchase they regretted, a piece of furniture that doesn’t fit) may be just the thing someone else wants. Fifty useful, unique or fun items are on display in the library for the entire month of May, and the public is invited to bid… and bid often!
June
Annual “Just Desserts” Dessert Auction
The Friends started the “Just Desserts Dessert Auction” as a grand finale to our Month-long Silent Auction in 2010, and it has become one of the most fun events of our calendar year. We recruit fabulous desserts from thirteen-fourteen people who are renowned for their baking expertise and creativity. The desserts are auctioned off by Reverend Tim Brueckner, who is funnier than a stand-up comedian, and a master at coaxing big bucks out of his audience. The record to date is $4,320 for fourteen desserts in 2018.
July
Annual Party in the Park Booth
The Friends and the Rotary Club of Gold Beach have partnered to put on “Party in the Park” since 2005. Other local non-profits joined in 2015 to make it a free community-wide event for children. Every year a different theme is selected, and the Friends decorate our booth to match the theme…Dinosaurs, Legos, Jungle Book, Super Heroes.
November
Annual Community Holiday Bazaar Booth
The community holiday bazaar is held the Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving. Twenty non-profits, including the Friends of Curry Public Library, combine their efforts to determine a theme for the event, make and sell Christmas swags to offset the booths’ costs, host a competition for the best decorated booth (according to the theme), and provide a complimentary tea table for the shoppers. In 2015 the Friends decorated their the booth whimsically for the “Nautical and Nice Christmas” theme, and tied for first place, winning $75.00 with their “Seas and Greetings” booth! The theme for the 2016 Bazaar was “Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice,” and the Friends took second place $50.00 with “Read, read as fast as you can…can you read as fast as the Gingerbread Man?” The Friends won first place with their “Storybook Christmas” themed booth in 2018.
Friends’
Parties
Grant Writing
Work Group
The eight members of the Grant Writing Work Group (Judi Collins, Sandy Grummon, Bryan Moe, Nancy Rogers, Terry Shannon, Jeremy Skinner, Phoebe Skinner, and Mary Uhlir) attended a 20 hour “Learn By Doing Grant Writing Workshop” in the spring of 2016, and the group developed three grant proposals as part of their class work. Since 2015, the Friends have applied for and received the following grants:
- $4,800 technical assistance grant from The Ford Family Foundation to hire consultant Dr. Meredith Howell (June 2015)
- $1,200 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for re-designing the Friends’ website (October, 2015)
- $20,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for construction of the Harald Haug Library Learning Center (May, 2016)
- $250,000 grant from The Ford Family Foundation for construction of the HHLLC (July, 2016)
- $50,000 grant from The Collins Foundation for construction of the HHLLC (October, 2016)
- $20,000 grant from The Swindell’s Charitable Trust for construction of the HHLLC (January, 2017)
- $20,000 anonymous grant for construction of the HHLLC (February, 2017)
- $6,000 grant from Umpqua Bank for Summer Reading Program (June, 2017)
- $5,000 grant from Mike Keiser Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for construction of HHLLC (August, 2017)
- $610 grant from Curry County Cultural Coalition for arts program (December, 2017)
- $6,000 grant from Mike Keiser Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for conference room furniture (January, 2018)
- $2,000 Good Neighbor grant from Ford Family Foundation for new drive-up book drop (February, 2018)
- $5,000 Capacity Building grant from Oregon Cultural Trust for purchase of re-configurable stage (August, 2018)
- $300Â grant from Curry County Cultural Coalition for custom designed podium (January, 2019)
- $5,000 grant from Tammis Day Foundation for “What People Wore” Exhibit in April 2021 (November, 2019)
- $5,000 grant from Tammis Day Foundation for new projector for showing outdoor movies (November, 2020)
- $5,000 grant from Tammis Day Foundation for new 25’X12″ screen for showing outdoor movies (February, 2021)
Website Management
Work Group
Work Group members (George Converse, Bryan Grummon, Sandy Grummon, Jeremy Skinner, and Ali Van Otterloo,) received training from the website designer, Anneliese Dehner in May 2016. It was a group effort from May 2016 through September 2016, but once everyone was comfortable with the WordPress software, each Work Group member has taken responsibility for updating the site every fourth month.
George, who has an extensive programming background, was the technical lead for the Website Management 2016-2020. Since then, Ali and Sandy have updated the website on a monthly basis, changing the rotating photos on the home page, and adding the current treasurer’s reports, minutes and agendas.
Landscaping
Work Group
- The Landscaping Work Group maintains areas around the library that are not covered in the library’s landscape maintenance contract. Barbara Johnson and Linda Stokes volunteered to head this effort, and Terry Shannon has recently joined them.
Friends hosted
Library Events
- Library Mortgage Burning Party (July 1, 2015)
- Harald Haug Library Learning Center Launch (January 23, 2016)
- Library employee/volunteer appreciation breakfast (September 23, 2016)
- Grand Opening of the Harald Haug Library Learning Center (August 18, 2018)
Website Design
Work Group
Bryan Moe chaired and cheered the Website Design Work Group from their first meeting in early September 2015 until the site was ready to launch in March 2016. The group (Bryan Moe, George Converse, Jeremy Skinner, and Sandy Grummon) met weekly and broke the huge project into bite-sized chunks, accomplishing the following:
- Bought URL: friendsofcurrypubliclibrary.org
- Determined how the site should look in a general sense, reducing the major categories to 4 buttons
- Decided the site should be linked to the library’s calendar
- Created an updated donor list to appear on far right column of every page
- Wrote the entire content
- Worked with the Friends’ Board of Directors to select the photos for the website
- Hired Anneliese Dehner to create the new site using WordPress software
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