The Wells Memorial Library after flooding Upper Jay, NY (population 326)

Do you have a bowl or jar of spare pennies or coins at home? Please consider donating your loose change to support efforts to help the Wells Memorial Library in Upper Jay, N.Y., which lost its entire children’s picture book collection this summer due to massive flooding after Hurricane Irene.

Kate Messner visited the library on August 31, and reported on her blog:

They lost virtually their entire children’s collection. All of the picture books. “They were all on the lower shelves,” library director Karen Rappaport explained, “so the kids could reach them.” She looked at the heap of books in the yard, then out toward the river, quiet in the background today, and shook her head. “We’ve just never seen anything like this.”

All donations will be collected by the Friends of the Arlington Public Library and then sent to the Wells Memorial Library.

You’ll find donation jars at the Central Library Youth Services Desk, and the Cherrydale Branch Library Service Desk.