Food for Fines returns

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

Food for Fines is back at the Strathmore Municipal Library starting on March 1.
“The Food for Fines campaign started off as a program that we ran in celebration of Canadian Library Month in October of 2010,” said Assistant Director of Library Services Carmen Erison.
After the first year the library spoke to the Wheatland County Food Bank, which suggested right before spring would be a good time to collect donations. Prior to Christmas there are many schools, businesses and organizations running food drives, but in the spring donations seem to slack off a bit.
The way the program works is if you have overdue fines at the library, bring in a non-perishable food item anytime from March 1-31 and each item brought in is worth $2 of overdue fines. Food for Fines only counts for overdue fines, it doesn’t work towards membership fees or for lost items.
“Previous years we have seen substantial donations to the library, upwards towards 1,500 items. Last year was a bit of a harder year for us and we only collected roughly about 500 items for the food bank,” said Erison. “This year we’re looking to increase the amount of items that we bring in to at least 750 items because we know that there are many community members that can definitely benefit from a program like this.
“Even if you don’t have overdue fines you’re still welcome to come and drop off food donations here at the library because all generosity is very appreciated and can really help these community members as well.”
Book sale
Also coming up at the library next month is the chance to add to your book collection. On March 13 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and March 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the library will be having a book sale to help weed out their collection and make room for new books.
“We’re bursting at the seams, we are overflowing in our storage rooms and so this is looking to be a very large book sale,” said Erison. “We will also offering a deal as well like we did last year where you purchase a library book bag and fill it for $1.”
All proceeds will go to support the Strathmore library and help continue to run the programs and services throughout the year.