For one evening families from throughout Wayne County stepped away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and spent time together making handmade Christmas decorations, enjoying snacks and listening to the sounds of a flute choir play Christmas carols.
On the evening of December 9 the main branch of the Wayne County Public Library hosted Give a Little, Make a Little, a holiday event designed for families to spend time together enjoying the Christmas season and benefiting a worthy cause at the same time.
According to Jimmie Epling, who took over the reigns as Director of the Wayne County Public Library when Greg Lubelski retired in July, the seed for the event was planted when College of Wooster Instructor of Flute Denise Rotavera-Krain approached him about the possibility of her Tremolos flute choir performing a program of Christmas music in the main lobby of the library.
We arranged for them to come and decided why not make an evening of it, said Epling.
Thanks to the efforts of Childrens Department Manager Barb Landers and Linda Davis and her army of volunteers that made the event possible, from those modest beginning the event evolved into what Epling described as a multi-generational type of activity.
One of the librarys meeting rooms looked more like a craft room as adults and teens handcrafted silk poinsettia flower arrangement and a piece of Christmas music printed on parchment paper, rolled and tied with a ribbon. Adults and teens also learned how to use old Christmas cards to make decorated gift boxes.
Over in the childrens department the librarys youngest visitors moved from station to station making paper reindeer antler headbands and reindeer ornaments made from popsicle sticks. At other tables young artists decorated wreaths and made a pair of glittery Christmas ornaments – one to take home and another to decorate the Christmas tree in the childrens department.
In addition to crafts to make and cookies and punch to enjoy, children were treated to a holiday puppet show while parents enjoyed the hauntingly beautiful music performed by the Tremolos flute choir.
It makes for a great evening for the whole family, said Epling. Just to see their smiling faces and to see how in to it they are and how much they are enjoying what they are doing, thats whats important.
To highlight the spirit of giving that embodies Christmas, each person attending was asked to bring along an item to be donated to People-to-People Ministries and place it under the librarys Giving Tree in the childrens department.
The library also offered a gift of its own to those 18 and under with overdue fines on their library cards.
According to Epling, between November 19 and January 1 the library will forgive overdue fines on the library cards of children under 18 years old.
While other charges would need to be paid before the overdue fines can be forgiven, the Overdue Fine Forgiveness program will allow children to begin 2011 with a fresh start.
According to Epling, as of the mid-point of the program just over 200 children had visited the library and participated in the program. Of that 200, half were from the main branch in Wooster while the rest were scattered amongst the librarys branches throughout the county.
Children can participate in the program by visiting any library location. In addition to having their overdue fines forgiven, children will also be provided with information on how to avoid overdue charges in the future.
For more information on the Wayne County Public Library visit their web site at www.wcpl.info.
