If you are watching the thermometer and following our Picton branch expansion fundraising progress on our web site at timetorenew.ca you will know that there is weekly progress. Thanks to the efforts of our fundraising committee chaired by Alexandra Bake and the many generous donors who have answered our appeal we are moving ever closer to our target. At the committee meeting last week we welcomed three new volunteers!
The fundraising committee, its’ sub-committees and the Friends have many plans in the works. To overview progress: The David Frum event was to date our most lucrative endeavour. We are putting our heads together to come up with another similar event for next year. Our mugs continue to sell well and watch for them on sale at the upcoming fall fairs. The Vic Café, Sobeys, Women Killing It and our book sale cart in front of the Picton branch this summer have further contributed to our growing fund.
The next event to mark on your calendars is the “Linwood Barclay in conversation with Vicki Delany” event on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Picton library. Tickets are $10 and refreshments will be served.
Tag days will be held during Ontario Public Library Week (Oct. 14 – 20). The Picton Rotary Club has volunteered to help us with that and others have offered to cut out tags and attach strings. Let us know if you are able to help.
Amy and Edward Shubert are heading the sub-committee planning the “Night at the Library” fundraiser. This happens Oct. 28, 6:30 – 9 p.m. at the Picton library. The tickets are $50 per person for this gala based on the Night at the Museum movie.
Doug and Evelyn Sloane are organizing an “Art on the Shelf” event. They have issued an invitation to artists to paint, sculpt or photograph a book title. For example if your favourite book is Silent Spring by Rachel Carson you may paint a frozen creek or if you loved One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez then sculpt a figure on a beach looking out over water. Each artist can enter two pieces. Please include a brief explanation of 50 words or less about the book your art work is based on. The “Art On the Shelf” event will be held at Macaulay Museum over the three weekends of Wassail in November and December. An entry fee of $5 per artist will be charged and 25 per cent of all sales will go to the library building fund.
Portabella Bistro will be holding four basket raffles in October. Dine out and buy a ticket for a sumptuous basket. All of the proceeds of course to aid our cause.
The popular Taste event is coming up Saturday, Sept. 22 at Loch-Sloy. The library fittingly is organizing a sampling of homegrown literature written and published by local authors and publishers. A portion of the sales that day directed to the library.
In the spring – perhaps aligned with The County Reads, we plan to bring back the DiscArted Art Show. This is a chance to use recycled books to create a work of art. Details are forthcoming, but give some thought to your entry to the show of 2019. If you have questions or wish to help or contribute contact Colleen Green the organizer of that event.
If you want to contribute to the It’s Time to Renew campaign there are an infinite number of ways that you can help. Contact the library to discuss your idea or to pledge your commitment. You will be contributing to gift to the community that will be a source of entertainment, inspiration and information for decades to come.
-Barbara Sweet