http://johnston.mync.com/site/Johnston/news/story/52600/charity-holds-sale-to-pay-rent/ Charity Holds Sale To Pay Rent
Credit goes to NBC 17 and Eastern North Carolina HOBY Thanks for mentioning the coverage. We were still working Saturday, when it was to run and I just got to watch it. The workers in the clip are from HOBY, which brought a bus of helpers from all over Eastern North Carolina to help with the Cleveland Library. HOBY is a Jaycees' youth leadership program. They had come to Raleigh for their annual conference. Last year it was a crew from all over the state. This follows the 900+ Disney volunteers that came from New Bern, Greensboro, Fayetteville, and towns I don't even know where they are located to help build the Cleveland Library. The Disney volunteers started January 6 and finished mid-May. These are the workers that helped label and sort so Cleveland can brag about having the largest private library book and video collection in the state. With more than 80,000 books and movies, Cleveland helps Johnston County get books to the subdivisions, where its population lives. Hundreds of patrons are checking out the books and movies as fast as they get on the shelves, creating a need for volunteers with library skills to continually sort and shelve. The library is typical of the old southern libraries starting up in the pre-airconditioning days on scratch built shelves. The early patrons said to only shelve one copy of each title and hold the rest in reserve, which gives a small library greater selection. For the most part the books are in their original jackets, saving the library and taxpayers $120,000 on plastic covers. The library is a lesson in recycling and reuse, stewardship, and democracy. Although many books are new, they were headed for the landfill and rescued by volunteers. Cases of books were bookstore overstock. Many came from other libraries as excess purchases and part of the annual purges. Both Wake and Johnston library staff agree that the Cleveland volunteers saved taxpayers $2.8 million in this first phase of acquisition. The library does not received money from Johnston or Wake Counties or the state to meet its rent and utilities. Donations may be sent to Cleveland Library at 5533 NC HWY 42 W STE 96, Garner, NC 27529 or 1413 Kenbrook Dr., Garner, NC 27529-4447. 1. Expanded hours to 32 hours weekly start July 12. 2. Children's librarian has her MLS and has been helping children select from our 14,000 children's books. She has experience in Wake public and school libraries. She has planned a book purchasing program to strengthen the collection. Join and support your local free to the public library this week. Monday and Thursday evenings 6-9 Saturdays 9-6
Open 15 hours going to 32. Hot $1 day sales started on Saturdays. I'm just not sure there is still a Santa Claus. We have to look at the options and get new funding to stay open or failing that, try to find some place to send people to and close. Sales and cash donations dropped 80-90% over the past few months and my job was just cut by the state. There is no way I can continue paying the bills for the community food pantry, the community clothing closet, the community library .... There has to be community support or Cleveland goes back to ignoring everyone with needs and returns to sending them to Clayton, Smithfield, Garner, or Raleigh. With 40,000 residents in the 5-mile area, this will become one of the largest populations that isn't supporting its own families that I know of. Basic Needs is the primary clothing closet by volume for Johnston County, part of Harnett and Wake. Cleveland Pantry is the only pantry in the area that provides 34 pounds of food per person, 21 meals weekly, and delivers to the shutins for a total of 115-120,000 meals annually. And we do have the largest book selection, other than the Smithfield library and Wake's system. What we don't have is the money for the rent and related operating costs. Our volunteers have spent seven years working for free in all temperatures and conditions. We've attracted 1,000 volunteers in from out of the area since January. There is no place to cut the budget, without cutting programs. They are all under the same roof. We have agencies calling for more clothing gift certificates weekly, individuals calling daily for various forms of help. The number of library patrons are increasing weekly and book and computer usage is up. We are still trying to get more volunteers to look books up in the catalogs, type and stick on the spine labels, and place them on the shelves. We have 14,000 books in the children's library, planning a summer reading program, and are looking for a sponsor to recognize our reading leaders. As a public charity, we are a private library, and are blocked from most funding and grants. Most funding and grants refuse to allow money for rent and operating expenses, figuring the community should support the basics. $1 days are here again on Saturdays. I fondly remember the hot summer sidewalk sales of my youth. All 26-28,000 clothing items, thousands of record albums and books and games and puzzles are on clearance for $1 or less. We need the space as well as money for the rent and electric and phone with Internet. Our basic monthly expenses are $3,000 or so.
