My family needed boxes of Girl Scout cookies about as much as a cat needs a
carburetor. But buy them we did. When it was time for new school marching band
uniforms, we bought bars of “World’s Best Chocolate.” The school debate team sold seeds for a spring trip to Washington, D.C. Kids went door-to-door in pursuit of “Front Porch Philanthropy,” the neighborly tradition of buying cookies, seeds, magazines, and other small goods to support local organizations that strengthen the community.
Now the Friends of Pack Library need your support for Pack Library. But they are not going to come knocking on your door. They need you to come knock on theirs. Come buy a book or two at the Friends of Pack Library Book Sale at the library. The sale runs two days: July 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and July 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking is available at the Civic Center parking garage, where the first hour is free. Park on the fifth level, where there is an entrance to the library.
Not every book at a Friends of the Library sale is a rare find, a collectible treasure, or a vintage edition worth showing off on a shelf. And that is perfectly fine. The real value of a library book sale is not just in what you take home, but in what your purchase helps make possible.
Buying a book at a Friends of the Library sale is a simple, friendly way to support
something that benefits everyone. There are library programs for children, teens and adults; reading events; computer access; author talks; literacy activities; and the many quiet services libraries provide every day.
A few dollars spent on a used cookbook, mystery, history, children’s classic, or stack of DVDs can help keep those programs alive and growing.
Long before computers and cellphones, many adults believed that sending kids door to door to sell items for schools, churches, and civic groups taught civic responsibility and the valuable skill of meeting people face to face and talking with them. Some kids flourished, taking early steps toward careers in sales and marketing. For the
congenitally shy, their families came to the rescue and bought the quota.
The item itself mattered less than the cause behind it. People bought because they believed in their community, not because they needed another box of candy or another packet of seeds. A library book sale works the same way. You may not need the book, but your purchase helps fund a place that serves readers, learners, job seekers, children and lifelong students.
So even if you are not hunting for a collectible treasure, come anyway. Browse. Wander. Pick up something you did not expect to buy. More importantly, you will leave knowing you helped support something worth having: a library that keeps serving everybody.
It is an easy, low-cost way to say, “This library matters, these programs matter, and my community is worth supporting.”
Friends of Pack Library 