by Noella Noelophile®
When I was eight years old, I met Fern Arable and experienced a nail-biting county fair–courtesy of E.B. White.
Years later, Colleen McCullough took me to Australia. Dorothea Benton Frank offered an insider’s view of South Carolina. Rosalind Laker provided time-travel to seventeenth-century Amsterdam.
To say that libraries have been giving me gifts all my life, would not be an overstatement.
On Saturday, April 30th, Aussie Girl artist/entrepreneur Gayle Fleury will be supporting a local library as it continues enriching lives. And she’d love to have your volunteer help!
For her ShareFest workday project, Gayle will be refurbishing the library, at Anderson Senior Center and Park, on South Mesa between 8th and 9th in San Pedro. Starting at 8:00 that Saturday morning, she needs volunteers to help make it welcoming and user-friendly once again. “Anderson Park is an historic site, which has been neglected for years and needs some TLC to get her shine back,” Gayle explains.
What’s needed most? Gayle says her group will be thoroughly cleaning the space, redoing the bookshelves, adding more shelves, and bringing in a fresh supply of books. But they won’t stop there.
Plans for the library’s makeover, one week from this Saturday, also include putting in carpet, to make it quieter; adding a sofa and chairs, for comfort; and bringing in lighting and games.
“We will also be powerwashing the front and back patios, and planting a small container garden,” Gayle adds.
Gayle says the workday runs from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, April 30th, but people can come and go as they like. She expects her group will be finished by 2:00 that afternoon. Also, she says breakfast and lunch will be served, AND t-shirts provided!
Would you like to help? Gayle says you can register online at ShareFest. Or, message her; she’ll need your name, e-mail and shirt size, to add you to the list.
Now, if you’re not familiar with the nonprofit ShareFest Annual Workday, as it’s officially named–it’s all about community and creativity. Their mission, according to their website, is to build strong South Bay communities through volunteerism–and to prepare the next generation of leaders for positive change. April 30th will be their 13th annual Community Workday.
On April 30th, Gayle says, hundreds of ShareFest Workday projects will be happening, all over the South Bay. As a member of Anderson ‘s Park Board, she’s all-too-familiar with the need for volunteer action.
“Anderson is the only park with ZERO budget, so we have to rely on events like ShareFest to get things moving as far as improvements go,” she says. “(This event)…will bring people from the community together to help us bring this hidden historic site back to her former glory.”
Kind of like discovering and polishing a hidden gem.
.”Heart of the Park” will be working to refurbish Anderson Park’s library as their project for the South Bay’s 13th Annual ShareFest Workday. Hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday, April 30, 2016. The library is located at 828 South Mesa Street, between West 8th and West 9th Streets, in San Pedro. Here’s the link for more information.