Hurricane Katrina: GRCC has not forgotten

Yesterday, the library hosted a very successful bake sale at which we raised over $600 for the American Libraries Association Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund. Our bakers included library staff members and their families and Library Advisory Committee members. Repeatedly we had people thanking us for making the effort and remembering those affected by Hurricane Katrina. However, a bake sale without buyers can’t be a success. So thank you to the many people who supported our cause and helped us to double our apparently modest goal of $300. It was heartwarming to work the bake sale table and see how many people refused their change (from 25 cents to $9!) and how many people put big bills in our donation jar.

Our goal was to both raise money and raise awareness. If you did not get a chance to see it yesterday, please take a look at our PowerPoint presentation which documents some of the extensive damage to libraries in the Gulf Coast Region: http://www.library.greenriver.edu/reserves/KatrinaLibraryReliefFund.ppt




This week, National Library Week, the American Library Association (ALA) presented $100,000 to the Rebuild Mississippi Libraries Fund. Since September 2005, $300,000 has been raised through the ALA for all Gulf Coast libraries impacted by the hurricane. However, it will take $40 million to rebuild just the public libraries in one state, Mississippi. It took minutes to destroy these libraries, but it will take years to rebuild them. It isn’t too late to donate! A secure, online form makes donating through the ALA easy: https://secure.ga3.org/03/alakatrina.

Thank you so much for helping us with our cause!