February Greetings,
I hope the first month of 2024 has brought good things to you and yours. While the winter may be a bit quieter for the New Castle Library Friends, there is still much going on as we gear up for another year of rallying our community around New Castle Public Library.
Most importantly, we are in the thick of Membership Season! Thanks to everyone who has already taken the time to renew (or join anew) for 2024. If you are a past member but did not receive a mailed invitation, please accept our apologies and consider taking a moment to renew on our website.
We have exciting news from our most recent Book Sale, an announcement about this year’s Annual Dinner, and much more to share with you in this newsletter.
Please have a wonderful season.
Matt Alexander
NCLF President
2024 Friends’ Dinner to feature ‘Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Delaware’s Forgotten Daughter’
On Thursday, March 21, at 6pm, the Friends will hold our Annual Dinner and membership meeting in the library’s Community Room.
It will feature a pot-luck style dinner and a talk from Lora Englehart about Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a 19th century teacher, writer, abolitionist, suffragist, newspaper publisher, and Harvard-trained attorney. Ms. Shadd Cary came from Wilmington and lived through a time in society when women - and especially black women - were not supposed to be any of those things.
Ms. Englehart is currently writing a biography of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, whose story has driven her curiosity since she discovered it while writing a July 4 article about Freedom for the News Journal in 1996. She has also been an activist in pushing for recognition of Cary’s story and her inclusion in the state and national Women’s Halls of Fame. Ms. Englehart appears through a grant from Delaware Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
While this event is for members, anyone interested in attending may join at the door. It will include a short business meeting, offering members a brief recap of NCLF’s finances, successes and challenges from the previous year.
Please RSVP so that we have some advance idea of attendance, either on the event’s Facebook page, or by email. If you are interested in bringing something for the pot-luck, please also let us know. Guests are asked to bring their own tableware, in order to help us maintain New Castle Public Library’s net-zero waste pledge.
Winter Festival Book Sale Results
In short, like the rest of this year’s Winter Festival & Market at the Library, our book sale was a great success! NCLF raised over $1800, half of which will be put toward the garden improvement project. That sum represents, as best we can tell, this organization’s biggest single-day fundraising total.
Roughly a third of the funds raised came from sales of raffle tickets, thanks to another highly popular selection put together by Jenn Ramsdell with help from various members. Sales of NCLF branded tote bags also remain strong, as both individual purchases and for ‘bag sale’ uses.
Thanks to the ever-helpful library staff, the Friends’ book sale was able to expand out of the conference room a bit this time, with raffles and volunteer cashiers in the children’s area just outside it. Many volunteers and attendees commented that this worked very well for alleviating congestion and improving the browsing experience. Many guests certainly left happy with their finds!
The Friends’ inventory of gently-used books is still quite robust, thanks to some really wonderful donations in 2023. Because of this, both ‘bag sales’ and the availability of specially-priced collectible volumes will continue through 2024.
Congratulations to co-chairs Susan Swansburg and Robert Wingle, raffle maven Jenn Ramsdell, and all of the wonderful volunteers who contributed to this book sale’s success.
Ongoing: NCLF’s Winter Membership Drive
It’s membership season!
Membership chair Irma Benedek and board president Matt Alexander got together in early January to send members their invitations to renew. Irma has been busy since with the initial flurry of checks and emailed confirmations that mark this time of year for the Friends and many similar organizations.
This effort isn’t just about renewals, though - we need new members too!
The Friends do important work supplementing the services and offerings of the library we serve. Being part of a group of people who support learning, literacy and community is rewarding. It’s also fun! Friends and non-member volunteers enjoy great events and the chance to meet new (non-capital-F) friends over the joys of books, making kids smile, volunteerism and much more.
As a Friend, you already know that... So please tell someone else!
Please help keep Irma busy all month by taking some time to share who the Friends are, the good work we do, and how anyone who supports it can also be a Friend to the New Castle Public Library. It’s as easy as forwarding this email with a nice note, sharing social media posts about our member drive, or talking to a friend. Thanks!
Were you forwarded this newsletter? Learn more about being a member at the Join/Renew Page on Our Website.
Garden Improvement Project - Update
In late November, board members met with an architect from Breckstone Engineering. He has provided an estimate to design the large, irregular deck we’d like to install over the drainage bed in the library’s rear garden. He also provided crucial info about the groundwork needed for the project to proceeed.
We have also been in communication with one of the Trustees of the New Castle Common, which own the library property. He is working to secure site plans and elevation maps that will be needed for the designs. On a more basic level, we are also working to ensure that the Trustees are on-board for this major installation.
While this preliminary work isn’t exciting, it is important, and the Friends remain committed to improving the usability of the library garden, even if the project takes longer than we’d hoped. Once we have secured a design, we will begin fundraising in earnest specifically for this effort.
The board continues to seek members and supporters with relevant experience - to either the building or fundraising aspect of this ‘capital’ project - to get involved by sending us an email.
2024 Friends’ Events & Ways to Get Involved
Please check out the Friends’ current schedule of book sales, meetings and events for 2024, which is below. Meeting dates are subject to change. A Fall member event may also be added.
The Friends will be seeking volunteers in the early Spring for our May Market Book Sale and to help with our part in A Day in Old New Castle, which generally involves handling check-in and help with wayfinding for event guests. If you’d like to be added to our separate list of event volunteers, please email us!
Why Does this Email look Different?
This is the first NCLF Member Update going out via Substack, a web platform built for subscription-based newsletters. You do not need to sign up for anything new or create a Substack account to continue receiving these updates by email.
You may also now view the Member Updates online, where they can easily be linked to, and where they will remain archived as they come out.
Any members who’d like to help with future updates are welcome to reach out. If you have any trouble viewing this Member Update, or would like to request a mailed copy of future newsletters, please also get in touch.