April 4, 2017
Annis Askew has volunteered with the Homebound Delivery Program of the Loveland Public Library for over 20 years. Annis has provided mental stimulation for each patron and an escape from the straits of their homebound existence. Hundreds of people have had their lives enriched by receiving cultural, educational and recreational materials such as books, DVDs, and audio CDs. These items have brightened and enriched the lives of everyone she has delivered to.
Annis often receives compliments on what a good job she does selecting items for every patron. These homebound people eagerly look forward to her visit every three weeks to help them get through their pain, drudgery and the isolation in their lives. Annis proves to be a real friend and advocate! Annis always has a positive can do attitude, even when patrons are demanding and hard to satisfy. Annis has been very dedicated despite personal challenges and the challenges of this volunteer job. She is very inspiring to everyone she has gotten to know.
Marcus originally volunteered as an education guide for our Wildlife program at Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park over 10 years ago. When the park was destroyed in the September 2013 flood, he stayed with us and helped recreate the program at Namaqua Park. He has spent several seasons coming to not just one program a week but to every program booked by a grade school group in the spring or fall season. He specialized in the teaching of our River Lab, even bringing his own hip boots to do invertebrate collection and studying up on other invertebrates present in the Big Thompson. The students quickly come to realize he can help them identify several organisms, not just the indicator species we focus on within the lesson. Marcus is a go-to volunteer!
He has taught 1000s of children, he has assisted other volunteers in their teaching, he inspires and he creates a culture of sharing and just plain positive vibes with his stories. He has been a part of our planning for the future, developing a lesson program in orienteering that we just received grant money to implement. He has given thousands of hours to the community through teaching and outreach - and continues to do so - adding trail hosting and staffing civic events in the last 1 1/2 years, in addition to the teaching he continues to engage in.
Friends of the Library benefit every demographic element in our community. Not only do they concentrate on enhancing children's literacy, Friends of the Library help fund educational cultural programming for all ages, including Native American History Month, Black History Month, Women's History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Dia de los Muertos, Asian Festival, and world story times. The Friends of the Library are also the main funder for the Summer Reading Program, which was developed to keep kids' reading skills sharp over summer vacation.
The Friends of the Library are great and engaged community members. They are library advocates! The Friends organization has been around since 1939. The Friends are an all-volunteer group with no paid staff. Volunteers spent nearly 8,000 hours of time in 2016 to raise money for our public libraries. Libraries are a primary force for education in our community for every age group, and the Friends' volunteer efforts and funding make many of those efforts possible. This amazing group has donated more than $700,000 to Poudre River Public Library District since 2009.
Poudre River Friends of the Library defines the spirit of volunteerism and community involvement and demonstrates what a committed group can accomplish working together.
Copyright 2015 United Way of Larimer County
