It started as trying to find a way, other than the usual book display or posters, to mark National Library Week, and it ended with a bake sale which raised $635 for the Hurricane Katrina Library Relief Fund. Along the way, it resulted in a level of fun and teamwork that we don't often experience in our library, and it increased our campus profile.

On April 6, 2006, to celebrate National Library Week, the Green River Community College Library hosted a bake sale.
Our bakers and sellers included library staff members and their families and Library Advisory Committee members. Our buyers included some of the over 2000 students a day that pass through our library, and staff and faculty who rarely come in our direction. It felt good to be having pleasant transactions with our students, rather than asking them to be quiet. We worried that we would confuse patrons by selling them food when we don't allow eating in the library, but that wasn't a problem.

We learned that even though Hurricane Katrina was eight months ago, Washingtonians are still sympathetic to the cause.
We were thanked numerous times for the effort it took to put on a bake sale, and time after time buyers donated their change, including one young woman who refused her $9 in change. We had a faculty member buy goodies to take back to his students, and we had two nursing students arrive with a cart and $15 to spend on items to take back to their classmates. We created a powerful PowerPoint presentation that documented the almost unbelievable damage to libraries in the Gulf Coast Region. Not only did we raise money, but we raised awareness.

In case you are considering hosting a bake sale at your library, we will share some of what we learned: We had people asking if we would be selling again the next day. We were too tired for that, but we do think we will host another bake sale in the future. We've already got some other causes in mind.

Brenda Philip
Green River Community College
bphilip@grcc.edu