We just finished up admiring our young people succeeding on the Olympic stage in Paris, but we have some young champions excelling on a much smaller, but still important, stage here in Stanley.
Ryea Witt became the first kid to participate in our Junior Library Champions program, created to help the D.R. Moon Memorial Library raise funds in the community to expand and renovate our 123 year-old library.
By setting up a neighborhood concession stand and selling tasty snacks, Ryea raised $47.25 to help build on our library’s mission – one that’s so vital to kids and their growth. We hope her community spirit and love for the library catches on.
Kids helped us form the initiative, which gives them a way to pitch in with the rest of the community and support our library project. Junior Library Champions can participate by fundraising in a number of ways, limited only by their imaginations.
Kids can help by having lemonade stands, craft sales, bake sales, car washes, contributing the proceeds from recycling, yard work, having garage sales, babysitting, pet-sitting, and more.
You can become a champion by stopping by the library for a participation form and more ideas and information on how to take part, including a sign-up sheet that requires parental permission. Kids can also sign up online at https://forms.gle/KX8YQos3LoLncEyy5.
In these weeks before school starts, it’s a great way to keep kids busy doing something that builds our community and allows them to give to the library they love. Kids are also welcome to participate in the “Junior Library Champions Fair” here at the library on August 24th from 10AM-12PM. And, once school starts, it’s a chance for them to give back and show their community service commitment. Scout troops and other youth organizations are also able to get on board and help by creating their own fundraising projects.
Libraries are so vital for young people, igniting a love of reading at an early age and as a resource for discovery as they grow. That’s why it’s important for them to be able to give back, learning another important lesson about the value of philanthropy.
Of course, the importance of giving involves all of us in the Stanley area. The new library, which will be three times the size of the current, cramped, and outdated facility will serve the needs of young children through senior citizens.
That’s why we need your help today in our drive to construct a library that will serve our community well into the future. You can follow Ryea’s generous example by giving today to make the library a reality.
You can donate at stanleylibrary.org/donate to promote lifelong learning and a place where the community can gather, learn, and belong. Or stop by the library to join your neighbors in supporting this vital community need.
The expanded library will offer expanded seating, more technology and tech support, more space to study, and room for our collection and new programming. It will also offer ADA accessibility lacking in our current library.
Because we’re in the business of connecting with people, the new library will have a flexible, large community meeting space – a crucial need in our community.
Let Ryea and our Stanley youth be your inspiration and contribute today to the campaign and join the Junior Library Champions. Your gift, like theirs, will be an investment that will live on for generations right here in the heart of Stanley.