This has been a very productive summer for the Friends. Our three pop-up book sales at the Kinderhook Farmer’s Market were a welcome sign for our community that things might soon return to (almost) normal. At this writing, our September book sale has not yet happened but will have by the time you read this. We’re hoping it will have been as successful as those in the past – the revival of a fond tradition for a book-hungry public.
Our first-ever garden tour exceeded our wildest expectations! Thanks to the planning and hard work of Council members Stephanie Lally, Tina Lang, and Vivian Wachsberger who orchestrated it, and our Publicity Chair Clare Dunn who got the word out far and wide, we had the rare opportunity to experience six beautiful private gardens, and to raise over $5,000 for the Library. We owe a great debt of thanks to those who opened their gardens to us: Michael Allen and Stan Gresens, Sue and Bruce Charbonneau, Amanda Foreman and Jonathan Barton, Sigrid Gray, Kelly and Tom Mueller, and Jason Jacobs and Darren Waterson. Thanks to all who bought tickets, and thanks to the volunteer docents who greeted visitors at each garden, many of whom didn’t even get to see all the gardens themselves. A truly fruitful team effort! The business of the Friends also moved forward apace this summer. We overhauled our by-laws to help us run more efficiently. Thanks to the generous support of our members, we came up with a budget that will enable us to contribute substantially more funds to the Library than we were able to last year. Our 2021-2022 Executive Council is eager to move forward with plans and ideas for the future.
October 1 begins our new fiscal year and is the time to renew your Friends membership. Current members should have received a letter and we hope you will promptly renew; please be sure to give us your email address for more efficient communication. We’ve made renewal even easier by providing a link to our website to renew online at: http://kinderhooklibrary.org/join-us/
We urge those of you who are not yet members to consider joining the Friends and to become active supporters of our Library. Since advocacy is an important part of our mission, we want to remind you to vote YES on the 414 proposition for Library support which will appear on the ballot in November.
Finally, let me thank the many people who made extra donations to the Friends this year. Your generosity far exceeded our budgetary expectations, and has enabled us to start the new year on firm financial footing.
-Marie Orlando, Chair