From the desk of Rand Simmons

Sunday, February 27 I traveled to Kendall Washington for the grand opening of the North Fork Community Library, formerly the Maple Falls Library but renamed when a new building was constructed across from the Kendall Elementary School. This lovely building was a true library system – community partnership. The Whatcom County Library System purchased the land. The library branch, Friends and community raised the money to construct the building. And what a coming together it was. Branch manager, Georgina Furlong-Head, told a standing room only crowd about some 71 businesses – some as far away as Seattle – that donated materials and services or sold materials at cost. Community volunteers donated thousands of hours in labor. The entire structure was built by volunteers, and with each donation of labor or of building materials, precious donated funds could be stretched to actually finish the library, which went from groundbreaking to completion in eleven months!

The Friends of the North Fork Community Library raised $138,000 in donated dollars despite a harsh economy and received a variety of grants totaling $130,000. A last minute donor anonymously gave $30,000, the funds needed to complete the building, and allowed for early completion. This lovely building near Mt. Baker is 3,120 square feet.

I was honored to bring greetings from Secretary of State, Sam Reed, and from the Washington State Library and present them with a letter to the Friends of the North Fork Community Library co-signed by Sam and me.

The letter reads, in part, “With great pleasure we congratulate you and the Friends of the North Fork Community Library on the grand opening of your new location in Kendall, Washington. The grassroots effort that brought this building into existence is remarkable and commendable.

The purchase of the land by the Whatcom County Library System and the coming together of Friends, the local community, the Whatcom County business community, and local builders and volunteers is a wonderful example of the kind of partnership that moves rural communities forward.

We look forward to watching the progress of the North Fork Community Library project and the changes it will bring to the community it serves.”

The Friends of the North Fork Community Library states: This Kendall-North Fork area is a large geographic area with a scattered population and is the fourth largest community in Whatcom County. The area is unincorporated, has very few organized services, and includes a high proportion of low- to moderate-income households: 71% of children enrolled at Kendall Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. The Kendall-North Fork area has the largest number of economically disadvantaged families in the county and 24% of the population resides in households below the poverty line, http://www.northforkcommunity.org/info.htm. One of the Friends told me that many of the individuals who donated their time to building the library were out of work and were happy to have something meaningful to do.

A quote from the Friends of the North Fork Community Library web site, http://www.northforkcommunity.org/, “Perhaps no place in any community is so democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady.

For many reasons, this truly is a miracle library.

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