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Former fundraiser Judith Hodgens is heading up the new library's Friends group. |
April is National Library Month, traditionally the time when people who have long-overdue books can return them without paying a fine.
"That's a good time," said Judith Hodgens of the newly formed Friends of the England Run Library, "to ask people for donations to the library, and to volunteer themselves." But then, she added, "Any time is a good time, like now."
The month-old Friends group is now 176 strong and looking for more members. The England Run facility is scheduled to open in September.
By then, the Friends expect to have accomplished a lot. The primary goal is to have successfully helped shepherd the library's 2010 budget--intact--through the Board of Supervisors.
The incoming and outgoing supervisors from the Falmouth and Hartwood districts already have pledged support.
Secondly, the Friends hope to have raised a good deal of money on their own for library purposes, through a gala opening fundraiser as well as by talking to any group that will listen to ask for donations. They also plan to buy special books or collections the library normally could not buy for itself.
Operating money comes from higher levels. The state pays for a library's basic books. Stafford County is building the library and will pay for water, electricity and maintenance. Salaries are paid out of a collective pot from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library members--Stafford, Spotsylvania and Westmoreland counties and the city of Fredericksburg.
The Friends add the icing to the local library cake: displays and special meetings.
"It's a long tradition," Hodgens said, "that what you raise for your library stays with your library. A happy Friend is a busy Friend. We plan to be very busy."
Hodgens, who lives in the Falls Run community across Plantation Drive from the new library, moved to the area from California two years ago. She was a fundraiser there for 35 years.
She helped raise millions, including $14 million for a capital fund project and $25 million in a scholarship campaign.
"Those amounts may seem small compared with the financial needs of a new library," she said. "But the scale is not important. It is the goal that is important."
And the goal includes expanding the Friends group itself.
"You cannot put a figure on the value of a volunteer," she said.
Call Hodgens at 540/371-1707 for more information about becoming a Friend of the England Run Library.
Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Email: hmuir@freelancestar.com
