The Winters Friends of the Library(WFoL) held its annual board retreat on Saturday, January 23rd, as a Zoom meeting, to plan their programs, projects, and fund raisers for the year.
Library Report
Scott Love, Assistant County Librarian, presented how the funds WFoL had raised for the library last year were spent. It paid for supplies, presenters, and programs such as Dia de los Ninos, and of course books and other materials. The funds also covered, supplies and incentives for the Adult Literacy Services. WFoL was able to help enhance the Winters Library collection with books that can be downloaded as e-books or e-Audio books. It also helped add to the Lucky Day collection and E-magazines and the Discovery Learning Kits, which are kits one can check-out that can have all the tools one needs to learn how to bake a cake or use a sewing machine. A large portion of the support funded the English as a Second Language Classes for Caregivers. In all, Winters Friends of the Library improved services, programs, and the collection with $36,521 dollars’ worth of support. Not bad for a year filled with restrictions because of the pandemic.
Program Changes
As with many other organizations, WFoL had to cut back on events that involved large gatherings of people and so decided to cancel some of them. There will be no Quiz Show nor Fruit-tree Sale this year, instead they will focus their time and energy on the fundraiser in May, called the Big Day of Giving. Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online giving challenge that brings together the region’s nonprofit community to help raise much needed funds and to highlight the work nonprofits around the region, including the Winters Friends, do. Over the years, the Winters Community generously supported WFoL’s mission, which allows WFoL to be generous to the local library.
Ideas for New Programs
One topic under discussion was what new programs could be invented that fit the virtual platform this Winter and into the Spring. Many ideas were discussed, including an online book club, author talks, a new arm-chair travel series, and a series of video lessons where volunteers hold classes on crafts they would like to share with others. All these ideas will need people in the community to join in with the Friends and volunteer their expertise and know-how.
WFoL is Powered by Volunteers
The big topic of the day was how to grow the volunteer base. The Friends is hoping to recruit new volunteers that are interested in helping with all aspects of keeping our organization functioning and serving our mission especially while we can’t meet in person. Because of the pandemic, many of the usual programs and fundraisers will be cancelled or put on hold, so the big push will be to move our programs online. The Winters Friends of the Library members are looking for people with the abilities needed to help with on-line fundraising, programming, community building, and other technical communication skills.
You Belong Here!
There are many ways of becoming involved with WFoL. Volunteer teams work together to fit the team’s needs and the time you have to give with an assignment you will find engaging, fruitful, and worthwhile. If you are interested in volunteering, check out the volunteer page at our website at WFoL.org/volunter where you can find all kinds of information on ways to help and a link to the online volunteer application. After you submit your application, our volunteer coordinator Carol Scianna will reach out to help you get started strengthening our organization, our library, and our community.
