A group of volunteers have revived an organization meant to help the Rainy River Public Library be the best it can be.
Doug Robinson is one of a group of Rainy River and area residents who are bringing the Friends of the Rainy River Public Library back to life following nearly 30 years of unofficial activity. Robinson noted that the organization was originally incorporated in February 1998, with all existing officials resigning just over a year later in August of 1999, but that the spirit of volunteering to help and fundraise for the library has continued on even in the official Friends title’s absence.
According to information provided by Robinson, the purpose of the Friends of the Rainy River Library is to publicize and promote improved library services, aid in raising and providing funds to assist the library in meeting research, informational, recreational and special requirements to the benefit of the general public and to conduct itself without purpose of gain for any of its members.
“All profits or other accretions shall be used solely for the promotion of this organization’s objectives in assisting the Library,” Robinson’s information noted.
Robinson has been involved with the library in one way or another since it lost its previous home in Rainy River in 2022, helping to move boxes of books and other library belongings out of the former location. It was during that time that he said they discovered the old incorporation documents and minutes of the previous officers.
“Once we got everything out and we found all this stuff to do with the Friends when it was incorporated in 1998, I kind of took an interest in going through it,” Robinson said.
“Everything was in a binder and it looked like the binder had been put together quite professionally. All the incorporation papers were in there, the constitution and by-laws, minutes of meetings that had taken place back then, and minutes of what I would say was their final meeting where the officers resigned, a cheque was made payable to the library for whatever money they did have in their bank account at the time. After that there’s no more minutes.”
Even without an official Friends organization, volunteers have been helping the library over the years by hosting book sales at community events like the Railroad Daze festivities and under the big tent at the Rainy River Walleye Tournaments. Other volunteers would go in to the library to help organize shelves and books as needed. These acts continued right up to when the library left its previous home, and Robinson said the re-discovery of the old documents from the former Friends of the Rainy River Library prompted him and others to reform in order to better help fund their local library.
“There’s a lot we can do in the community, and the library is a very focal point, or it certainly was, for a number of reasons,” he said.
“There’s a lot of rural residents in this area, and they don’t all have access to internet, or even cellphones. The library was a resource for people that could come in, we had computers for people to use in-house, wi-fi, you could find people at 10 o’clock at night parked outside the library on their laptops because they could pick up the signal. It was a great resource for a lot of people. One of my neighbours up the river is a Canadian customs agent and they missed [the library] because there were lots of things that people needed to do when they were trying to cross the border, and they couldn’t access the computers at customs, so customs would send them to the library to do whatever they had to do.”
Robinson also said the library is a resource for those older residents of the area who might not be as tech-savvy as others to go to get help with computers, phones and more, meaning that supporting the library’s functions through a Friends organizations equates to supporting all kinds of different people.
Joining back up as the Friends of the Rainy River Library gives the group a more robust ability to fundraise for the library, owing to the fact the Friends organization can act in ways the library can’t, such as by applying for a lottery license to be able to hold special fundraising events. While the book sales have been valuable in supporting library initiatives over the years, Robinson said the group wants to do more.
“We want to do a lot more fundraising,” he said.
“[Book sales] are an important piece because it circulates books for people, but you don’t make a lot of money. We have different people who are involved in the Friends who are pretty sharp consumers buyers, and when they see deals on different things, they buy them, and we use those to do auctions. We had an auction back in June and we’re going to have one again next weekend.”
The Friends of the Rainy River Library’s next online silent auction is scheduled to take place beginning on Friday, September 13, 2024, at noon and will run until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 15, 2024. The theme for the upcoming auction is “Home, Halloween and Gifts,” and Robinson said there are currently close to 70 items that will be up on offer. All bidding is done on the library’s Facebook page and proceeds will go towards supporting the library and its various projects.
For more information about the Friends of the Rainy River Library, the library, or the upcoming silent auction, keep an eye on the Rainy River Public Library Facebook page.
