COVID impacted many elements of our community’s life during the past 18 months. In addition to schools, churches, restaurants, and stores taking hits, the Friends of the Kinston-Lenoir County Library also saw its fundraising efforts thwarted.

Efforts are now underway to counteract the effects of the pandemic. The Friends have put together a Love Your Library! Raffle and tickets are available now. The donation per ticket is $50. Make your check payable to Friends of the Library. The online drawing will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 18, 2021.

The top prize is $1,000. The winner, or winners, will be contacted by the phone number listed on the ticket stub submitted for the drawing. A single winner will be issued a check for the total amount. In the event of multiple winners, the Friends will issue multiple checks.

In addition to the grand prize, five other tickets will win virtual “door prizes.” One of those prizes will be a copy of each of my books: “My Wife Has All the Answer” and “Sprinkling Stardust: The Delights of Grandchildren.”

Why should you support this fundraiser?

The answer is simple: The mission of the Friends of the Library is to support our local public Library and, thereby, enrich our community. Let me provide a little context.

From 1999 through April 15, 2015, the Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library raised $261,828.00 in memberships and donations. That money funded, on average, 30 programs each year, nearly 500 programs over this 16-year period. From July 2013 through June 2014, about 26,000 people attended programs sponsored by the Friends. From July 2018 through June 2021, more than 73,500 people attended Friends-sponsored programs.

When tough economic times hit, the Library becomes even more crucial to the lives of local citizens. After all, patrons can use most library resources without charge. Few organizations in our community are as open to all residents as the Library.

The services offered by the Library and supported by the Friends have evolved over time to keep pace with the development of technology and the Internet. You may be surprised at some of the services offered at the Library now. In addition to traditional materials like books and audiobooks, DVDs, games, and periodicals, the Library also provides extensive eBook, eMagazine, and eAudiobook collections through the e-iNC and NC KIDS digital libraries. These electronic resources are accessible through NC LIVE.

The Library has partnered with the local school systems to give every child in public schools a library account tied to the student ID number. Students can check out materials and download eBooks to their school devices. The Library also provides laptops and personal hotspots for checkout and offers activities with exciting new technologies, such as 3D printing and virtual reality.

A few facts about our public Library may surprise you. Our Library serves a geographic area that covers 402 square miles and has a population of roughly 58,000. Of those citizens, more than 75 percent have library cards.

Your support is an investment that pays rich dividends for our community. Since 2018, the Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library has helped fund programming that includes musical acts, lecturers, and community celebrations. A significant number of these programs are specifically for our community’s youngest members, including storytelling festivals, STEM enrichment programming, early literacy programming, bookmark contests, and visits from museums and other educational institutions.

Our Library is opening doors to new opportunities for local patrons of all ages. The support of the Friends of the Library helps make those opportunities possible.

You can donate to this fundraiser by stopping by the circulation desk or by asking a member of the Friends board of directors. I have five tickets with a burning desire to leave the envelope and get into your pocket. If I run out, I can get a few more. Contact me.

But I must warn you: Only a limited number of tickets are available. The time to act is now.

Mike Parker is a columnist for Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.