Random-A-Thon!!!

Even though the date was rescheduled, our first-ever library teen Random-A-Thon fundraiser was a huge success! Over the course of the day, 24 teens attended, and many stayed for the whole thing. We have raised over $700 already, and several people still have to turn in their money. I am amazed by that amount, having expected something in the $400-$500 range. Huge thanks to everyone who participated, no matter how much you raised. The top fundraising award will be announced after the March 19 donation deadline.

The Teen Advisory Board came up with the idea for the Random-A-Thon by combining a lot of our regular library programs into one long marathon event. The idea was that people would raise pledges and donations, then come stay as long as they could at the library on a Saturday. We've done lots of bake sales and yard sales, but we've never tried anything this big. We had no idea it would be so successful!

In the morning, we had DDR and Rock Band on the projector, and Monopoly and other board games at the tables. We took a lunch break to pig out on grilled cheese, PB&J (or fluff), carrots and celery, chips, cupcakes, and soda. Then it was on to an afternoon of chess and checkers, origami, crafts, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In addition, we had many random things going on. I had prepared The Prize Box of Randomness, and brought it out at odd intervals and distributed prizes based on arbitrary questions and activities. A group hooked up the GameCube, Laurel practiced her katakana strokes from an iPod app, a group tried out my German Monopoly game, some guys played Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering, Nitha ran around harassing people with MadLibs, and several people did their homework.

Special thanks to Laurel for bringing homemade bread, to Nitha for running home to get a knife to cut it, and to Maria for staying late while I cleaned up at the end of the event. And happy birthday to Genni and Owen, who both attended the rescheduled Random-A-Thon even though it fell on the actual date of their birth.

Making Sharpie tie-dyed shoelaces!

Some completed crafts: origami, scratch-painted CD magnets, and a necktie belt as headwear!

"We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine..."

Chess

Monopoly

You never know what The Prize Box of Randomness will bestow upon you.