Mill Creek
Friends book sale raises record amount
Now we know how Olympic athletes must feel. Sure, it’s a stretch comparing Friends of the Mill Creek Library used book sale with the Olympics, but it was a long effort and a big win.
Last spring we set a sales record of $1,635.75. Saturday, May 13 we broke it with $2,070.20.
We had an amazing quantity, quality, and variety of books and media materials donated by the community. There was good organizing, building on experience, heavy work, individual and team effort, excellent support by the the library staff, needed space donated by Clock Tower Storage, dependable publicity by the Mill Creek Enterprise, and a sunny day. We had volunteers: young, with strength and enthusiasm; older, with experience and endurance. We set prices a big-box retailer could not match, and all the proceeds go to support programs services, and facilities at the library. This year, we’re also giving a professional development grant for promoting literacy in the Mill Creek area.
People came. They coped with parking problems. Kids sat on reader’s laps and romped on the grassy margins of the crowded tables. A woman I hadn’t seen at recent book discussions told me she came for more books. She has cancer and is thankful she’s a reader. A special friend hugged me. Several people thanked me for doing this work. One said she wants to be like me when she grows up.
We’re thinking about our next sale on Sept. 30 and having some books for sale at the Mill Creek Festival on July 8 and 9.
We don’t have gold medals for book sales, but we feel like winners.
SELMA BONHAM
Mill Creek
Community
Librarians deserve greater appreciation
What a great column by Sue Waldburger on children’s books (Enterprise, May 12). I’ll always fondly remember the magical little corner in the Cedar Way Elementary School library (much thanks to the hard-working librarian Dennis Myers for making that library outstanding) that had books by Donald Sobol, Beverly Cleary, Gertrude Chandler Warner, Ronald Dahl, etc.
Those stories about Encyclopedia Brown, Otis Spofford, The Mouse &The Motorcycle, The Boxcar Children, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and James &the Giant Peach have stayed with me. We are called to put away childish things in order to fulfill the call on our lives, but I hope I never become so cold and sophisticated that I lose the child-like joy and wonder I had when reading those amazing books.
School librarians around our nation need to be encouraged, reminded, and thanked for their often unappreciated efforts that result in children having safe, guided, colorful, and stimulating environments in which to read and learn. Putting a child in front of a TV is rarely (if ever) an adequate substitute for a room full of books that is overseen by either a skilled, mindful librarian or a loving parent.
Librarians, along with teachers, rarely get the applause and recognition that athletes, actors and recording artists get in our society, but they’re just as valuable for nurturing the minds and souls of our youth and enabling their learning process which will benefit them for a lifetime.
STEVE GOODMAN
Mountlake Terrace
Immigration
It is time to fix the problem we created
I am a second generation American. All my grandparents are from Spain. My paternal grandparents immigrated to America and became legal citizens. My mother, who is also from Spain, married my American born father, obtained legal status and then took the oath of allegiance and became an American citizen. America has always welcomed immigrants. Â
So what is all this talk about immigration “rights”?
The problem is about illegal immigration, a problem that we created.
The vast majority of illegal Mexicans came here to work because they were invited by American businesses and then offered benefits by both parties, competing to increase their base. Many illegal immigrants have established roots in our communities.
Now it is time for the politicians in both parties to fix their mess, secure our borders and then begin the process of issuing visas to those illegal immigrants with families and roots in our communities and deport the rest.
JOSEPH LOPEZ
Lynnwood
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