After a short hiatus since the completion of the addition to the library, the Friends of the Kenai Community Library are active again with a new board. Dee Cassell from Home Gallery is the chairman and looking for community input for new projects or continuation of the old to benefit the Kenai Community Library.

The Friends of the Library will begin their annual membership drive in mid-May. This year they are planning a “bring a friend” campaign by enclosing an extra membership form and envelope for each member to hand to a friend who may become a member of Friends of the Library. The forms can also be picked up and dropped off at the library.

A Brown Bag book sale was held on May 2. Happy patrons left the sale with 80 bags stuffed full of books. Other library programs the Friends have helped promote recently include a donation that purchased the self-checkout station in the main room of the library. Friends’ donations have supported the youth book clubs so that each participant can have their own copy of a book for discussion.

The Friends have dedicated funds to support new programming including the incredibly popular sewing programs and cooking lessons. Those monies allowed the library to purchase sewing machines and hot plates and Friends monies also helped the library augment a gift of Legos from the Alaska State Library with a storage cart and even more Legos to help start and continue the Lego club.

The board meets bi-monthly to review ongoing projects and to discuss upcoming events. The meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. Odd months are Board meetings and even months work sessions. Public input and participation is invited.

— Submitted by Virginia Walters