As you might know, I have a soft spot for libraries. After hearing about a dip in Illinois public library funding, I attended city council budget meetings in Evanston and helped support fundraising efforts through blogging and getting other writers involved. The Evanston Public Library Friends have seen victories and setbacks. But through thick and thin they’ve persisted, and they’ve got a lot to show for it. Namely, they’ve opened The Mighty Twig – a volunteer-run, storefront library established to help replace Evanston’s shuttered South Branch.
How successful have they been?
In the Mighty Twig’s first six months:
- 18,017 people visited
- 509 children checked out 6,062 books
- Volunteers distributed 15,297 free books across Evanston
- They’ve built up a long wait-list of volunteers ages 10 to 89
They want to do even more – but they need your help.
Vote for Mighty Twig on Pepsi Refresh!
Help underserved areas get books.
The Mighty Twig’s newest project, “Right Book. Right Place. Right Person“ needs your vote in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge. Cheryl Chamberlain, Twig Advisory Board member (who’s also on EPLF’s Board of Directors) says,
With our project, we’ll buy books by African-American authors and books in Spanish and distribute them to 10 book centers in public areas throughout west Evanston. These areas have zero library services. We also have another three reading rooms beyond The Mighty Twig, and yesterday we began work on our fourth.
How to Vote
The top 15 candidates will get a grant, but The Mighty Twig’s standing is in the mid-20’s. So please vote once per day until the contest ends on November 30, 2011.
Vote online here: http://www.refresheverything.com/themightytwig
Vote via text:
Send the code 109325 in a text message to PEPSI (73774).
Don’t forget:
You can vote every day both online and via text.
Thanks for your support!
Margoblog 
This is a great fundraiser! I’ll vote. Thanks for your efforts to change the world for the better.
Thanks so much for voting, Jennifer! If you can swing it, the Twig could use your support twice a day (online & text)! I think they’ll have a real shot at the grant. :)
Mar-go, girl! Giant smooches for your continued support of Twig — the Tiara is already spoken for today as Library Hero, but I’ll request an honorary title of some sort. Thank you, thank you!
Aw, thanks, Lori. And you’re welcome!
I love knowing that library heroes like you guys are hard at work – and I’ll gladly defer the tiara as long as you guys are getting the support you need! ;)