Bergenfield—The Bergenfield Public Library is a hub of constant activity. Located at 50 West Clinton Avenue, the building houses a variety of books, a young adult section, an extensive music and movie selection, and a very child-friendly floor. Throughout the week members of the community flock to the library for more than just reading material; some for a quiet work area away from the frenzy of a home environment, others for the wonderful children’s programming scheduled daily. Friday afternoon brings the post-carpool crowd as everyone stocks up on reading material for long Shabbos afternoons, and kids movies for what one hopes is a late wake- up on Sunday mornings. Kids of all ages can be seen enjoying the variety of toys in the child-friendly children’s section. A train table, puzzles of varying difficulty levels, and a toy kitchen— with a front row view of the train— keep families entertained throughout the visit.
With so much to offer, the Bergenfield library is known by many as the best bargain in town. Membership costs nothing, and so much is offered in return. For most patrons of the library, financial support is primarily provided in the form of overdue fines. But are the library’s patrons aware of the annual Friends of the Library Raffle? This year the library has reached out to kosher vendors in an effort to encourage members of the kosher-conscious community to participate in the raffle.
“The Friends have worked hard to provide a variety of prizes which have had great appeal across the community,” said Linda Mohr, president of the Friends of the Bergenfield Library group. “We are hoping that the inclusion of kosher prizes will bring out even more residents to support the Friends fundraising activities, support that helps the whole community.”
Mohr explained that Friends of the Library began over 50 years ago as a way to supplement funds that go directly to the Bergenfield Library. The contributions from the Friends go towards programming and other initiatives unique to Bergenfield. Some of the recent acquisitions of the library came directly from funds provided by the Friends. These include the Mango Language Learning Program, which is educational software, a movie projector for the children’s room, young adult computers, computers and software for the reference department, and many other gifts as well.
The Friends of the Bergenfield Library has run this raffle semi-annually for the past 15 years. The addition of kosher gift certificates is already attracting some new interest from the Orthodox community. “I am always at the library, but it never occurred to me to look at the baskets for the raffles,” remarked one patron. “Now that I know they included all these popular restaurants, I will definitely check it out.”
The kosher restaurants in the raffle include Chopstix, Mocha Blue, Sushi Metsuyan, Lazy Bean Café, Gotham Burger, Dougie’s BBQ & Grill, Poppy’s Bagels, and EJ’s Place. The gift certificates are divided into two separate prizes, so there are two chances to win one of these prizes.
A quick glance at the other baskets shows that they have many items to appeal to the kosher-conscious library goers as well. Many of the gift baskets follow a theme and have very little actual food items in them. These gift baskets include a baby boy theme packed with bibs, socks, a blanket, and books for baby; “Off to College,” packed with a flash drive, desk organizer, school supplies, all wrapped in a mesh hamper; a BBQ basket with a foldable grill and includes a book on barbecuing; and even a chance to win four tickets to the Land of Make Believe.
Mohr and her colleagues in the Friends of the Library are very excited to include the kosher additions to the raffle packages. Their “belief in the value of the library to our community,” as Mohr calls it, motivates them to look for new ways to engage library patrons.
Raffle tickets cost $1 each, or $5 for 10. The raffle is going on now and ends at noon on June 5th. Drawing of winners will be held immediately after the Friends meeting at 12:30 p.m. on June 5th. The money donated for the raffle goes back to the children and adults who use the Bergenfield Library.
By Jenny Gans
