Cashing in on junk

ARLEE — Anything and everything was up for grabs at the first-ever Jocko Valley Library yard sale fundraising event Saturday in Arlee. According to library director Kimberly Folden, the public seemed excited to support the library through purchasing donated items, and the library’s net profit was $381.60.

“The weather was perfect and I believe that we did well,” she said. “Many people donated more than the total of their purchases, and made very supportive comments about us having a sale with all the money going towards the library.”

Some people who came by the sale didn’t know that the town of Arlee had a public library.  

Prior to the sale, the library board spread the word through flyers, the newspaper, Facebook and their own website, but with less than 24-hours to go before the main event, no one really knew how Saturday would go.

“One of our board members is the rummage sale queen,” Folden said Friday before the sale. “We’re excited to see how it goes, there’s quite a bit there.”

The Jocko Valley Library is run entirely on a volunteer basis. Its main source of funding is a half-mill levy gifted to them from the Lake County Commissioners, but they also receive portions from donations and several fundraising events throughout the year.

“We try to buy the new best-sellers every month,” Folden said. “The grant money that we use to do that is starting to run out.”

The yard sale should help the library to pay for computer software and youth programs, like the summer reading program, as well as the cost of computer maintenance and supplies, and those new best-sellers that keep the public coming back for more.

“Sometimes you come into little libraries like this and the books are all really old,” Kelley Brown, a library patron and volunteer said. “I remember the first time I walked into this library, I was floored that I could get the latest best-sellers from my favorite authors.”

Right now, Folden said she’s just trying to keep the library’s head above water, but is positive that its future will be bright.

“We’re hoping to move into a new location and become more visible and accessible for all of our patrons,” she said. “We are planning to have a big drive this fall to get more volunteers, be open more hours, and have a bank to fall back on.”

For 12-year-old Gabrielle Wheeler, of Arlee, the library’s struggles are a world away.

“I love the library,” she said, glancing up from the computer game, Webkinz, she was playing with a friend. “I come every day to get books, movies, [use] the computer sometimes. I like the movie section, they have lots of good ones I haven’t seen.”