Volunteers revive Friends of the Rainy River Library to benefit beloved organization

A group of volunteers has restarted an organization dedicated to helping the Rainy River Public Library be the best it can be.

Doug Robinson is part of a group of Rainy River and area residents who revived the Friends of the Rainy River Public Library after nearly 30 years of unofficial activity. Robinson noted that the organization was incorporated in February 1998, and all current officers resigned just over a year later in August 1999, but the spirit of volunteering to help and raise funds for the library has continued even without the official title of Friends.

According to information provided by Robinson, the purpose of the Friends of the Rainy River Library is to publicize and promote improved library services, to assist in raising and providing funds to assist the library in meeting research, information, recreational and special needs for the benefit of the general public, and to conduct itself without the purpose of profit to any of its members.

“All profits or other accretion will be used solely for the promotion of the objects of this organization by assisting the Library,” Robinson’s information noted.

Robinson has been involved in some way with the library since it lost its former home in Rainy River in 2022, helping move boxes of books and other library property out of the old location. That’s when they discovered the old incorporation documents and minutes from the former officers, he said.

“Once we got everything out and found everything related to the Friends when they were incorporated in 1998, I wanted to go through it,” Robinson said.

“It was all in a binder that looked like it had been put together very professionally. All the incorporation documents were in there, the constitution and bylaws, the minutes of the meetings that had taken place at the time, and the minutes of what I would call their last meeting where the officers resigned. A check was made out to the library for the money that they had in their bank account at the time. After that, there were no more minutes.”

Even without a formal Friends organization, volunteers helped the library over the years by holding book sales at community events like Railroad Daze festivities and under the big tent at Rainy River walleye fishing tournaments. Other volunteers would come to the library to help organize shelves and books as needed. These activities continued until the library moved out of its former home, and Robinson said the rediscovery of old materials from the former Rainy River Friends Library inspired him and others to reform themselves to better help fund their local library.

“There’s a lot we can do in the community, and the library is a focal point, or at least it was, for a number of reasons,” he said.

“There are a lot of rural residents in this area, and not all of them have access to the internet, or even a cell phone. The library was a resource for people to come in, we had computers that people could use on site, Wi-Fi, you could find people at 10 p.m. parked in front of the library on their laptops because they could get a signal. It was a great resource for a lot of people. One of my neighbours up the river is a Canadian customs officer and he was missing (the library) because there were a lot of things that people had to do when they were trying to cross the border, and they couldn’t get to the computers at customs, so customs would send them to the library to do what they had to do.”

Robinson also said the library is a resource for older residents in the area who may not be as tech-savvy as others to get help with computers, phones and more, meaning supporting the library’s functions through friends organizations is like supporting all kinds of different people.

Coming together as the Friends of the Rainy River Library gives the group a stronger fundraising capacity for the library, as the Friends organization can do things the library can’t, such as applying for a lottery license so it can hold special fundraising events. While book sales have been valuable in supporting library initiatives over the years, Robinson said the group wants to do more.

“We want to do a lot more fundraising,” he said.

“(Book sales) are an important part of getting books out to people, but they don’t make a lot of money. We have a variety of people who are involved in Friends who are savvy consumers. When they see deals on different items, they buy them and we use them to run auctions. We had an auction in June and we’re going to have another one next weekend.”

The next online silent auction for the Friends of the Rainy River Library is scheduled to begin Friday, September 13, 2024 at noon and will continue until 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 15, 2024. The theme for the upcoming auction is “Home, Halloween and Gifts,” and Robinson said there are currently close to 70 items that will be offered. All bidding is done on the library’s Facebook page and proceeds will support the library and its various projects.

For more information about the Friends of the Rainy River Library, the library, or the upcoming silent auction, keep an eye on the Rainy River Public Library Facebook page.