September 2023

Month-Long Silent Auction

 

Friends volunteers set up the auction (back row): Jeanie, Ali, Sandy, Iris, Bryan; (front row): Nancy, Karen, Jolayne; (Missing from photo: Carol and Michelle)

The Friends unveiled their MONTH-LONG SILENT AUCTION on Monday, August 28th. Nine hard-working volunteers (see top photo) set up the auction the previous afternoon, which involved two hours of non-stop hauling of tables, tablecloths, grid, and auction items. Arranging the items so they were attractive, visible, and didn’t crowd their “neighbors” almost required an engineering degree! It was a good thing this group of volunteers was creative and willing to think outside the box.

The event, featuring fifty new or “just-like-new” donated items, runs through the entire month of September. There is something for everyone, and co-chairs, Bryan and Sandy Grummon, swear it is the best selection of auction items ever offered in the twelve-year history of this event. (Friends member, Pat Renner, mentioned that Sandy says this every year.)

For the second year in a row, 50% of the auction items are brand-new, including sporting equipment, tools, high-tech equipment, appliances, and a number of high-end patio “toys.”

The auction will end at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 30th.

 

August 2023

Library Birthday Bash

Friends volunteers Michelle, Iris, and Maureen handed out cupcakes to everyone who attended the LIBRARY BIRTHDAY BASH.

Volunteers from the Friends of the Curry Public Library and library staff hosted a “Library Birthday Bash” on Saturday, August 26th to celebrate the completion of a major solar array project at the library. The finishing touches were completed this summer on an array of solar panels that now power crucial lighting and infrastructure and emergency battery capacity. Curry Public Library is proud to be the only government entity in Curry County to have invested in solar as a form of energy independence and disaster resiliency. Funding for this project was made possible by generous private donations from the community and the continued support of the Friends of Curry Public Library.

The event also celebrated the 15th anniversary of opening the doors of our new library building on 3rd Street, and the 5th anniversary of dedicating the 6,400 square foot Harald Haug Library Learning Center addition, which added new spaces for learning and collaboration.

The community was invited to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony, during which Jeremy urged the crowd to take a moment to pause, reflect and celebrate how far our library has come from its humble beginnings. Shannon Suza, the library’s solar consultant, spoke briefly about the completed project and plans for expanding solar capacity at the library, and encouraged input from the community. Board Chair, Jerry Herbage, cut a ceremonial birthday cake at the end of the program.

Char Crumley birthday cupcakes were served by the Friends to everyone who attended, and the ever-popular Ferguson Brothers Band performed, much to the delight of 30 locals who danced to the classic rock music until 8:00 pm.

 

July 2023

Party in the Park

A gorgeous, hot, sunny, fog-free day, free carnival games for grade-school aged youngsters, and free picnic lunches for participants and their families attracted a record-breaking crowd of 207 kids to PARTY IN THE PARK. Twenty local organizations hosted booths at the community-wide carnival event on July 15th in Buffington Park, incorporating the theme “Pirates & Mermaids” into their booth activities and decorations.

The Friends’ booth was titled “Treasure Island Challenge,” a five-station obstacle course. Each youngster had to crawl through a play-tunnel, jump through four tires, throw an “axe” at a velcro target, attempt to walk on bucket-stilts, and end the course by walking a balance beam. This year, we added an alternative easier four-station course for the youngest of our participants. Each youngster was timed from start to finish, and the time was written on the back of a gold pirate medallion that was given to the child to wear.

Co-chairman, Sue Peters, said the event was a huge success, thanks to all the hard work put forth by a cadre of ten Friends volunteers and nine ASCEND staff/interns, on loan from the library. This enthusiastic group spent two hours setting up the booth, three and a half hours working the booth, and twenty-two minutes tearing the booth down. Sue said the kids loved running the obstacle course, and several returned to see if they could beat their original times.

 

May 2023

The Annual Book & Bake Sale

After seven days and over 300 combined volunteer-hours, the Friends of Curry Public Library’s “Annual Book & Bake Sale” was a huge success. Thanks to the generosity of dozens of local people who donated a bazillion gently used books, talented bakers who contributed tempting goodies to the bake sale side of the event, and the tireless work of a group of outstanding volunteers, this fundraiser brought in over $4,000.00.

The sale, held over Memorial Day weekend, attracted locals, several newbies who recently relocated to Gold Beach, and lots of out-of-town visitors who saw our signage along Ellensburg Avenue. People were lined up in the lobby to be among the first to shop the best selection of books at the “members only sale” on Friday night. Many folks paid for Friends’ memberships, specifically to attend the  sneak preview.

43 volunteers hauled, stacked, unpacked and sorted hundreds of boxes of books, sold books and baked goods, and after the last customer left at noon on May 29th, boxed the left-over books, folded and moved 53 tables, and broke down cardboard boxes. It took 114 man-hours to set up the sale, and exactly 1 hour and 15 minutes (40 man-hours) to tear it all down! It was a lot of HARD WORK, and hats off to the energetic, uncomplaining folks who spent a good chunk of their holiday weekend at the library, working their tails off before, during and after the sale.

The Bake Sale portion of the event was chaired by Sue Peters, who gathered a crew to package, label, and price all the donated home-baked goodies. This year, our volunteer bakers outdid themselves with delicious cakes, pies, strudels, pastries, turnovers, cookies, gluten-free items, sticky buns, cheesecake, and even some home-baked doggie biscuits! Everything was beautifully displayed, and the Bake Sale brought in a record-breaking $907.00. It’s a good thing our customer base and volunteers have a sweet tooth!

 

April 2023

Connect With Your Community

Friends’ booth volunteers: Michelle, Lori, Charlene, and Dianne

The Friends of the Library were one of nineteen local, volunteer-based organizations that had booths at the non-profit expo, “Connect With Your Community.”  It was one-stop shopping for those folks…recently retired or new to Gold Beach…interested in volunteering or getting involved in the community. Booth chairperson, Michelle Valentino, Sandy Grummon, and president, Dianne Daniels set up our colorful booth, and five volunteers worked three shifts to meet and greet attendees.

The Friends provided “give-aways” for everyone who stopped by our booth…FOCPL 2023 brochures, a book mark list of books recommended by Friends members, delicious cookies individually wrapped in FOCPL logoed bags provided by member Carrie Hollenbeck, and a chance to win our door prize.

Michelle assembled the door prize into an enticing looking gift basket that included hardback copies of  “Astoria,” written by Peter Stark who recently gave an author talk at our library, and “Betrayal,” by Phillip Margolin, who will be giving an author talk at our library in May. The basket also offered a free yearly membership to the Friends, a $5.00 voucher for the Annual Book & Bake Sale, an essential oils bottle of room spray, “Joy of Reading,” formulated by Michelle, and an apple strudel, freshly baked by Dianne.  Newcomer to the community, Michelle Arnold, was thrilled to win our door prize.

 

December 2022

Holiday Better Books & Bake Sale

The Friends hosted their “HOLIDAY BETTER BOOKS & BAKE SALE” in the lobby of the library on Friday and Saturday, December 2-3, 2022. Fourteen members helped set up the booth, lifted, unloaded and sorted boxes of new and “just-like-new” books, acted as cashiers during the sale, and tore down the booth after the sale. Co-chairs of the book sale side of the event, Paul and Pat Renner, said “Holding the sale in the library lobby is a great venue, as almost everyone who comes into the building loves books.”

This year we added a bake sale, which brought in more than one-third of the $1,200.00 grand total for the event.  Bake Sale co-chairs, Sue Peters and Dianne Daniels, did an outstanding job recruiting a wide assortment of goodies…pies, cakes, cookies, tarts, scones, biscotti, breads, strudels, Danish pastry, etc.  The two of them worked behind the scenes in the kitchen all day Friday and Saturday sorting, packaging and labeling all the baked goods.  Everything was beautifully displayed and professionally packaged to appeal to the sweet tooth of our customer base…many of them being our Friends members!

 

Website Management

Work Group

George Converse has an extensive programming background and is the technical lead of the Website Management Work Group. George, Ali Van Otterloo, Bryan Grummon, Jeremy Skinner, and Sandy Grummon took the training course from the Friends’ website designer, Anneliese Dehner. Updating the website on a monthly basis was a group effort from May 2016 through September 2016, but once everyone was comfortable with the WordPress software, tasks were allocated to each Work Group member. Since 2019, Ali and Sandy have updated and tweaked the site on a monthly basis, posting current agendas, minutes, treasurer’s reports, and photos from recent Friends’ events.

Grant Writing

Work Group

Nine members of the Grant Writing Work Group (Judi Collins, Sandy Grummon, Bryan Moe, Nancy Rogers, Terry Shannon, Jeremy Skinner, Phoebe Skinner, and Mary Uhlir) have attended a 20 hour “Learn By Doing Grant Writing Workshop,” and the group has applied for several grants since 2015, receiving funding amounting to $395,910.

To view grants from 2023, click below
Grants 2023

To view grants from 2022, click below
Grants 2022

To view grants from 2021, click below
Grants 2021

To view grants from 2020, click below
Grants 2020

To view grants from 2019, click below
Grants 2019

To view grants from 2018, click below
Grants 2018

To view grants from 2017, click below
Grants 2017

To view grants from 2016, click below
Grants 2016

To view grants from 2015, click below
Grants 2015