Library runs on volunteer efforts

Sisters celebrated the work of its library volunteers Friday night in the annual library volunteer appreciation party held in the community room of the Sisters Library.

Friends of the Sisters Library (FOSL) - and many good old friends and patrons of the library - helped set up the tables and chairs, and supplied delicious finger-food and mouth-watering desserts for the party.

Special entertainment was furnished by Lola Knox and her recorder group, "Renaissance Sisters." The musicians played a selection of Christmas holiday tunes, and the audience sang along.

Charlotte Nitcher, volunteer coordinator for the Sisters Library, presented awards and gifts to volunteers who had just begun to help out, to long-time volunteers like Mary Smith - who celebrated her 95th birthday recently - who has been a volunteer at the Sisters Library for 28 years.

Several of the volunteers serve the library and Sisters community in other capacities, such as Jan Reese, who has been a library volunteer for seven years and has served on the FOSL board for over four years.

From the time the library opens at 10 a.m., you can find any number of volunteers sorting returned books, shelving books, searching for missing items, sharpening pencils, assisting with story time and summer reading programs, watering plants, and a myriad of other duties that save the library a lot of money.

"With the library closed two days a week, there is just no way the staff could do what they have to do alone," said veteran library volunteer Doug Smith.

Last year alone, library volunteers donated over 1,984 hours of work that saved the library more than $2,700 in staff time. Staff member Sandy McDonald, who has worked in the Sisters Library for over 30 years, gave her heartfelt thanks to the volunteers for the labor-saving work

they do.

Deschutes Library District Director Todd Dunkelberg and Sisters Library Manager Zoe Shumacher joined staff member Linda Kurtz - who has over 12 years with the library - in thanking FOSL and the volunteers for the help they provide.