Congratulations to the Lafayette Library and Learning Center on celebrating five fantastic years. I hope that everyone is planning to stop by the Library’s Literary Festival on Sunday, November 2, from 11am-3pm, being held in celebration.
Looking back to the years leading up to the opening of the library is a nostalgic feeling for me as my son did his Troop 204 Eagle Project (which is always a family affair!) to help raise funds to build it.
This morning I pulled out Brad’s Eagle Book. In it, he wrote:
“For my Eagle Project, I created and coordinated the Power of YOUth campaign titled, “Read, Recycle, Resell” for the new Lafayette Library and Learning Center. My goal was to raise awareness amongst Lafayette youth for the new library. We first formed a committee and strategized the best way to reach as many students as possible. We decided to collect gently-used books at the various school registration days across town. Later, we sorted, priced, and re-sold the books at the Lafayette Art and Wine Festival. Over 6,000 books were collected and over 450 volunteer hours were logged. We collected more books than could be sold over the two day event. The extra books were donated to Lafayette teachers, “The Friends of the Lafayette Library,” and to Shelter Inc. to help with a new library another Eagle Scout was creating. This project was a positive experience for me. I learned how important it is to be prepared and communicate often with your team.”
Reading Brad’s words five years later still makes me smile. We are so lucky to live in Lafayette and enjoy our beautiful Lafayette Library and Learning Center, a true modern model for life-long learning. My family will always remember when it was built and Brad’s contribution with pride!
From its earliest beginnings, the building of our wonderful Library was a community effort, with lots of grass roots fundraising by our community’s adults and youth. I can only imagine how many others walk through its doors and smile knowing that they personally helped make it become a reality.
That’s a community builder truly worth celebrating not just this Sunday, but every day!