Friends of the Tehachapi Library book sale a success

The Friends of the Tehachapi Library just finished up their last big book sale of the year and once again the folks of Tehachapi have shown their generosity. Since the sale was during the Apple Festival, some of that generosity came from visitors, but we know that a great deal of the sales were to locals. And just how much came in? The total was $1,845. In addition, The Loop newspaper donated $250 from their pie baking contest fundraiser to the Friends of the Library.

All this is money that will go to help support all the programs our Library offers, for example, the teen programs. The next one is a special "Fright Night" at the Library on Oct. 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. This pre-Halloween event will include a costume contest, a paranormal investigation, and other activities in the Library. Then there is the upcoming Hogwarts Yule Ball in December. With the funds and interest, there will be additional special programs/events for adults. The first, a Downton Abbey Tea, was a big success. The Game of Thrones event coming up in January should also be a great one.

But the fact of the matter is that even with these programs the generosity of the people here in Tehachapi makes this money go even further. Local businesses are making donations to these events, so there's pizza and snacks at the teen events, and food, tea and sweets came in for the Library's Downton Abbey Tea.

In addition to all of you who bought books, the Tehachapi Friends of the Library would like to extend special thanks to Marni Reid, for keeping everything organized, and Thomas Medaris for working hard on getting all the antique and vintage books researched and priced. Thanks also to Kit Bowman and Catharine Sjostedt for doing the extra work for the specialty books (setting up the coffee table, etc.). And then to the many volunteers (Sharon DuVal, Donavan Torres, Benjamin Gilbert, Sharon, Ron and Mat McCoy, Wilma Havenner, Nancy Buge, Kevin Barlow, Ted Johnson, Connie Brehm, Mark Fisher, Vicky Hoffman, Coco, Petrishka) for getting everything set up and running smoothly. Further thanks to BSE Rentals for the loan of additional tables to hold all the books and to Carlos' donuts for keeping the volunteers fueled up.

A big thanks to the Apple Festival for their help with our booth, expertly run by Veronica Wilson, our head librarian. And to Sharon Fisher of Laugh and Learn Preschool for operating the children's Storytime on both Saturday and Sunday.

So what happens now? Well, the Friends of the Library want to keep our inventory as fresh as possible, so some of the books that didn't sell were donated to groups like senior and disabled housing, veterans, the local prison, the Senior Center and the Shed's Soup Kitchen. Other books will be provided to other fundraising groups.

The continuing sale will still be going on and will soon be expanding, once again due to the generosity of the folks of Tehachapi. So, keep donating books and come to the Library and check over what's available.

Finally, there's always room for more volunteers. While these big sales are great, there's always something that needs to be done. If you're interested, contact the Friends of the Library by email at [email protected] or call or text (661) 750-2818.