HELP is on the Way for Library Hours

The Hercules Emergency Library Project (HELP) formed late last week to help raise funds and preserve the ’s hours.

Due to budget restrictions, the City of Hercules ceased funding 10 of the library’s 45 hours on July 1. Contra Costa County funds the remaining 35. Members of HELP were able to convince the city council that it would supply funding for 5 of those 10 hours, which has enabled the library to continue its programming and regularly scheduled hours of operation from Monday through Saturday.

The loss of the other five hours means the library is now closed on Sundays. 

Members of HELP were able to persuade the city council to allocate a quarter of the yearly cost of the five hours HELP is raising funds for (which totals $40,000) on the city’s quarterly budget, which means the organization will need to come up with $10,000 by October.

“We currently have $8,090.47,” said Brian Miller, president of Friends of the Hercules Library, a non-profit group which was instrumental in the forming of HELP. “We’re expecting a $2,500 matching grant from someone who donated that amount and has an employer with a matching grant program. We’ve submitted the paperwork, and once that comes in we’ll have the money for the first quarter.”

HELP consists of various members of FOHL and members of the Parks and Recreation’s Community and Library Services Commission, as well as library volunteers and concerned community members. The group would like to raise funding for at least two quarters by the end of the calendar year, if not for the entire amount.

So far, funding has been generated by donations from community members at various library programs and in its bookstore, in addition to funds given directly to FOHL, which donated $1,000 of its own.

“Currently, the rest of the money from the Friends’ fund goes towards books, newspaper subscriptions, programs and such,” Miller said. “We want this to be a community effort to save the library and the library’s hours.”

Members of HELP will meet again on Thursday, July 14^th to discuss marketing materials for its fundraising efforts, which are likely to include the sale and painting of bricks and tiles to be placed about the library, as well as a naming program for various parts of the library.

Other efforts discussed include involvement from local non-profit agencies and plans to obtain corporate sponsorship. HELP will convene again on July 27th.