Nonprofit Fundraiser Understands Importance of Volunteering

Taylor spends her Sundays at Central Library, where she sorts books in the pre-shelving area, put holds out for patrons, adds new books to the New Books section, and does whatever else she can help with.

Taylor tells us, “I’ve been volunteering for two years, and I love it.”  She enjoys being a part of the library community so much that volunteering with us on Sundays is the high point of her week!

Outside of the library, she is a fundraiser for Mental HealthAmerica, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people with mental health issues and works to educate the general public about mental wellness.  Her job allows her to help people who need it most, and volunteering at the library allows her to help the community she lives in.

Taylor encourages everyone to volunteer when they can.

 

Barbara, Library staff member Geoff Koury, and Terry (l-to-r). Geoff, their staff supervisor, trained them together.

Meet Barbara Goldstein and Terry Pottinger, two good friends who met last May on their first day as new volunteers for the Shirlington Branch Library.

Both Barbara and Terry joined the library as volunteers for Shirlington’s ongoing Friends of the Library Booksale.

Now they are thick as thieves. They meet for lunch throughout the village, get pedicures together, and often stop for smoothies together before meeting at Shirlington to organize and market donations for the Book Sale. They even stay in touch outside the Library, by telephone and e-mail.

Since that first day, both women have expanded their volunteer work. Barbara is now Shirlington’s Friends of the Library Representative, and helps with the Sunday Film Classics Matinées. Terry is a substitute office aide/shelver when not volunteering.

And this weekend they will represent the Library at Oktoberfest in Shirlington Village, where they will set up a Friends of the Library Book Sale cart.

It is clear that Barbara and Terry enjoy working together, and at the library – their spirits are so high when they are here, they make us all laugh. Terry tell us, “working at the library is like living beneath a Christmas tree, the gifts just keep coming.” That is so true; they are a gift to us.

We’re so glad they found us, and each other!

 

Learn more about Volunteer Opportunities at the Arlington Public Library.

 

Juliann Bordwell has been a volunteer at the Aurora Hills Branch Library since the spring of 2009.

Her primary job is to price donations and maintain the Friends of the Arlington Library book sale at the branch, but she has expanded her skills and now lends a hand with a variety of tasks.  Her supervisor calls her a shining star.

Thank you Julie! Aurora Hills would not be the same without you.

 

Interested in becoming a Library volunteer? Check out the Current Openings on our Volunteer Page.

 

If Central’s Garden had a Fairy Godmother, it would be Julie.

Julie is a volunteer at Central Library who helps tend our Arlington Food Assistance Center vegetable garden.

In this photo, taken by the staff at AFAC for their newsletter, she’s holding a bouquet of broccoli and cucumbers. These fresh vegetables were harvested at Central on Wednesday morning, and taken to AFAC just in time to be put on the shelf for that morning’s clients.

You can see more delicious examples of Julie’s hard – and very important – work in our Vegetable Garden photo albums on Flickr.

 

Interested in becoming a Library volunteer? Check out the Current Openings on our Volunteer Page.

 

Meet Don Weber, research entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, longtime Arlington resident and über volunteer at the Central Library.

Don shows Pink Lady Beetles to Mrs. Vilsak and Library Director Diane Kresh

Last year, Don spearheaded the creation of a vegetable garden in a raised bed just outside the Library’s east entrance. The garden was a community effort with multiple partners (US Department of Agriculture, Arlington Food Assistance Center, Potomac Overlook Regional Park, Potomac Vegetable Farm, and Girl Scout Troop 1431), and began as a complement to the Library’s annual Arlington Reads program (which for 2010 had the theme of food sustainability).

The purpose of the garden was to demonstrate the feasibility of using urban spaces to produce food, but under Don’s leadership it accomplished much more, as a community-building and educational laboratory that unfolded before the eyes of the 2500-3000 people who visit Central Library daily. Don brought AFAC and its corps of enthusiastic volunteers into the project and suggested that the food grown be donated to that organization. He created a detailed design of what crops should be planted and where. He took the lead and participated with other AFAC and Library volunteers in removing masses of liriope and weeds to make room for the garden and created a handout to explain to people what was happening in that space. He donated seeds and seedlings from the USDA and helped coordinate the procurement of other plants.

Don is also responsible for the colorful banner above the garden, was instrumental in having the garden designated a USDA People’s Garden and then got Christie Vilsack (wife of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack) to attend our dedication, along with County Board member Walter Tejada. Being a bug guy, Don also contributed 1000 native lady beetles for release into the garden at the dedication.

Over the growing months, Don was often seen in the garden early in the morning on his way to work – weeding, watering, and dispersing beneficial insects to counteract the pesky ones. He initiated and designed a series of educational programs called Tuesdays in the Garden, created handouts for and taught 3 of the 4 sessions himself and coordinated with Master Gardeners to continue the educational sessions as Thursdays in the Garden for the following 4 weeks.

And late in the fall, Don and other volunteers planted some cold weather crops and a ground cover – a continuing project that will demonstrate the cycle of growth, dormancy and renewal throughout the year.

For staff who work at the Central Library as well as library patrons, this lush garden has been a patch of optimism and reassurance in a time of diminishing resources. It has served as tangible evidence that Arlington is a community that cares. Thank you, Don, for bringing the garden project to successful fruition and for continuing to brainstorm the many ways that this cooperative project can benefit us all!