Friends of the Cochrane Public Library is hosting their first fundraiser to benefit the library since the support group's inception earlier this spring.
A silent auction will run online on Friends of the Cochrane Public Library's Facebook page and in person at the library until Dec. 21 with several themed gift baskets with items from local businesses up for grabs, including one specially designed for movie nights and others for floral enthusiasts and adventurous, reader and artistic types.
Peter Fortna, who chairs the group, said the money raised will help the library deliver on programs and capital projects such as a bookmobile that provides access to library items to communities that are outside its immediate service area.
"We're also looking at potentially fundraising for a satellite branch in the new transit hub," he said, noting the aim of the fundraising arm is to raise the money while it’s the library's job to ultimately figure out where the money is allocated.
Libraries are central to communities, Fortna said, and they are quickly evolving into much more than places to check out books.
The Cochrane Public Library also rents power tools, snowshoes, board games and learning kits, to name a few, through their Library of Things program.
"They're one of the few public spaces left in this world and it's really important that we build them up," said Fortna. "They provide services that allow folks to access computers and the internet. In my mind, it's just vitally important that we have a strong library."
Fortna said the current space the library has been afforded is not big enough for all the services they try to offer to the community and that fundraising will hopefully allow them to expand and further their reach.
Currently there are six board members helping to steer the Friends of the Cochrane Public Library and Fortna hopes they can further ramp up their efforts to support the library with even larger fundraising events next spring.
