200 People Made Library Giving Day a Success

As published in the Red Rock News
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You made our third annual Library Giving Day a success! Thank you for investing in Sedona Public Library during this national campaign celebrating libraries everywhere. We’re so glad you choose to support your hometown library! We believe in the community, and you believe in us. Thank you!
 
The Library Giving Day campaign was originally established by the Seattle Public Library Foundation as part of National Library Week, and it continues to be supported by the American Library Association and the Public Library Association. Designed to remind people that libraries are cornerstones of their communities, the notion has caught on.
 
What started as an idea grew into a movement, and this year 400 library systems across the U.S. and Canada participated in the April 7, 2021 effort. Sedona Public Library is thrilled to be a part of a national event to amplify libraries’ profiles in their communities, and we are thrilled with the tremendous turnout of supporters.
 
Thanks to the nearly 200 people, from 12 to 91 years old, who participated in our April campaign! Gifts were matched, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $23,500 provided by 21 generous donors, including all 18 staff members at Sedona Public Library. And we surpassed our goal! With the matched gifts, we raised $48,200 towards our library programs, services, collections, exhibits, and more.
 
Sedona Public Library has its roots in community generosity, from its founding by a small group of Friends of the Library, to the gift of land by Eugenia Wright and Helen Ecker for the first building on Jordan Road, and to the cash donation by Ethel M. Low to buy land for our current large facility on White Bear Road. And we’ll soon break ground on an outdoor patio connecting the Library with the Friends used book store.
 
We are a thriving, growing, and strong organization, and we are one of the oldest institutions in Sedona. We owe our historic success to each and every donor who carries on that founding spirit of philanthropy. Donors for Library Giving Day included volunteers, board members, staff, and patrons, and a cute brother and sister duo from West Sedona School.
 
“But I thought it was for a charity?” the eight-year-old patron asked, as his 12-year-old sister guided him to put his dollar in the donation box on April 7. “The Library is a charity,” she explained, smiling. “And these dollars go towards books,” she said.
 
Books, and so much more, I explained. And we talked about the computers, DVDs, Grab & Go Craft Kits, and StoryWalk at Sunset Park. And then their eyes grew large when I explained that soon we will have a big outdoor patio where they can read in the sunshine. They smiled happily and headed back to the computers in the children’s room.
 
Thanks again, Sedona. Your support makes a huge difference to what we can offer to the community. Sedona Public Library is an independently run, 501(c)(3), privately owned, debt-free, nonprofit organization providing public services. We receive support from the City of Sedona, property tax dollars from Yavapai and Coconino Counties, and gifts from businesses, foundations, and individuals like you, as well, of course, from the Friends of the Sedona Library. When you support them, you support us—it’s a win-win. Please visit us at sedonalibrary.org.

Sedona Public Library
Library News for April 23, 2021
Written by Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director

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