Bake Sale Report

Thanks to our Teen Advisory Board, their parents, and library staff, we had a pretty good bake sale yesterday!  We had tons of delicious food, as well as sodas and water.  Since I had a family emergency last weekend when we were supposed to have the event, I am really grateful for everyone's flexibility and helpfulness!  I haven't counted all of the small change yet, but we made $122 in bills and quarters, plus a $50 donation.  Yeah!

Thanks to everyone who took a turn at the table:  Katie, Genni, Grace, Anas, Arig, Marissa, Jasmine, and Laurel.  Thanks also to everyone who contributed food and drinks:  Katie, Genni, Grace, Arig, Anas, Kim, Nikki, Billy, Marissa, Laurel, and me.  And a special thanks to library staff Mrs. Kosha and Mrs. Mock for each adding cookies to our sale!!

Final Report: 2012 Random-A-Thon

I finally tracked down the last few teens who owed money from the Random-A-Thon, so now I can give you the results!  

We raised a total of $887 dollars.  We didn't quite get to $1000 as I had hoped, but that's still really good!  Also, it saved my hair from being mohawked.  I don't want to thank you for not raising as much money, but I will say that you have made my mother very happy.

Our fundraising winner again this year is Billy!  He raised $150, which is awesome.  Billy wins a gift basket from the Teen Advisory Board with a $25 gift card to Amazon.com, as well as snacks and library swag.  Honorable mentions go to Alex R., Colin, and Grace for each raising $50 or more.  

Thanks to everyone for making this year's Random-A-Thon a success!

Billy's gift basket

2012 Random-A-Thon!

Last Saturday, 40 teens descended on the library for our third annual Random-A-Thon!  (Were you there in 2010 or 2011?)  It was our best attendance ever.  We've only raised $748 so far, though, so keep working on it!  I will seriously cut my hair into a mohawk if we can get to $1000.  You have until March 11 to turn in all of your money!!

The Random-A-Thon has a loose schedule of events just to help people know when to show up if they're not staying all day.  We brought back some favorites from last year, like watching childhood cartoons, doing duct tape crafts, playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and having a Connect Four tournament.  Genni had some tough competition, but ultimately won in Connect Four.  (Extra thanks to Owen for volunteering to take care of the brackets for me during the tournament.)  We added some new video games and DVDs, as well as fun crafts like license plate journals.  We had also planned some things that didn't happen, like beaded crafts and bingo, so we'll save those for another time!

Lunch this year was grilled cheese or peanut butter/jelly/marshmallow fluff, with veggies and dip and chips, and soda to drink.  Of course, there was much snacking all day and people were stuffed by the time they left!  Throughout the day, we had pop-up activities from the Jar of Randomness.  We did everything from dancing the Cha Cha Slide to decorating cupcakes to making sand art to eating Ring Pops!  Special thanks to Grace for making Pop Culture Jeopardy as one of these random additions.  It was very cool.  Some of the activities involved prizes, and here are the winners:

• Siaka won the candy jar guessing game with an exact guess of 87
• Nikki won a soft pretzel maker in a random drawing
• Genni and Alex each won a tic-tac-toe tournament

Winners got real prizes, but we also had our infamous Prize Box of Randomness.  I filled it will bizarre donated items, leftover prizes from other events, Happy Meal toys, weird swap-rack books, and anything else I could find.  The Prize Box of Randomness must not be looked upon; it will bestow upon you the item that is right.  Everyone got something from the box throughout the day by reaching in with eyes closed!

Thanks to all of the TAB members for contributing snack food to the Random-A-Thon.  Extra thanks to Laurel, Emily, Billy, and me for bringing in homemade goodies!  And huge thanks to Kara Naklicki for spending her college volunteer hours with us.  I seriously couldn't have survived the Random-A-Thon without her help!

 Just Dance

 Duct Tape Crafts

 Sand Art

 Apples to Apples

License Plate Journals

TAB Gift Card Fundraiser

For the last two months, the TAB has been collecting partially used or unwanted gift cards from library patrons.  We combine the amounts left on the cards  to purchase snacks, supplies, and prizes for teen programs.  This time around, we collected a total of $136.10!  That's our best year ever!  Cards ranged from $50.00 down to $.10, and covered a whole bunch of stores, including Walmart, Target, Macy's, Wawa, Old Navy, Kohl's, CVS, and Barnes & Noble.  Thanks to all of our library patrons for their donations. We already purchased three Wawa cards, two as prizes in the Nintendo Night tournament and one as a giveaway at our Brain Break event!

2011 Gift Card Fundraiser
2010 Gift Card Fundraiser

Gift Card Donations

The Teen Advisory Board is collecting partially used and unwanted gift cards from library patrons until January 15.  Make space for new cards in your wallet and help us fund teen programs in 2012!  We combine the amounts left on the cards to purchase supplies, snacks, and prizes. 

So far, we've collected $74.72 for stores like Wawa, Old Navy, Target, Kohl's, CVS, and Barnes & Noble.  Thanks to everyone who has donated this month!  We still have a month to go, and all contributions are tax deductible.  No amount is too small.  :)

2011 Barnes & Noble Bookfair!

Saturday was the library's bookfair at the Barnes & Noble in Broomall, and it was a success!  Thanks to all of our library patrons who came to do personal shopping, plus some purchases we made for the library, we are on track to make the most money ever!  We are taking our fundraising money in books again this year, which will be awesome for our teen section.

If you missed the day, don't worry.  You can shop in any Barnes & Noble store or online until December 17.  Just give them our bookfair ID number (10554343) when you check out.

Here's what I bought with my library budget at the fundraiser:

FICTION

• The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (Infernal Devices series)
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games trilogy; additional copy)
• L. A. Candy by Lauren Conrad (replacement copy)
• The Fight by L. Divine (replacement copy)
• Frenemies by L. Divine  (replacement copy)
• The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (Lorien Legacies series)
• l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle  (replacement copy)
• Heartless by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)
• Ruthless by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)

NONFICTION

• Guinness World Records 2012
• It Gets Better:  Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
• Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Style by Ann Shoket and the Editors of Seventeen

GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Yotsuba&!, volumes 1-3, by Kiyohiko Azuma
• Naruto, volumes 51-53, by Masashi Kishimoto
• Bleach, volumes 36 and 37, by Tite Kubo
• Pandora Hearts, volumes 3-5, by Jun Mochizuki

TAB Bake Sale

On Saturday, the Teen Advisory Board (TAB) had an amazing bake sale in the library lobby.  We raised $248.25 to fund our Hunger Games lock-in this December!!  We had a great variety of food, including cupcakes, brownies, lots of types of cookies, muffins, Rice Krispy Treats, and a delicious Middle Eastern sweet that was like a honey-filled fried doughnut.  We sold nearly everything by the end!  

Thanks to our bakers (and their families):  Katie, Grace, Emily, Elena, Amie & Kim, Anas & Arig, Billy, Genni, Marissa, and me.

Thanks to our workers:  Saranjeet, Genni, Arig, Anas, Katie, Marissa, Grace, Kim, Amie, Christelle, Jasmine, Emily, and Elena.

And thanks to all of the library patrons and staff who bought things from us!  We appreciate you all!!

Exciting and New

Here are the latest purchases for the teen section at Sellers! A few of these are things I ordered, but most of them were chosen by teens who designated their Random-A-Thon fundraising money to purchase new books.  Special thanks to Teferi, Christelle, and Nikki for their suggestions!

FICTION

• Eleventh Grade Burns by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series)
• Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series)
• Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series)
• Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series)
• Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
• How to Deal by Sarah Dessen
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
• That Summer by Sarah Dessen
• This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
• The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
• Cloaked by Alex Flinn
• Shine by Lauren Myracle
• Evermore by Alyson Noel (The Immortals series)
• Night Star by Alyson Noel (The Immortals series)
• Shadowland by Alyson Noel (The Immortals series)
• Vampire Kisses:  The Beginning by Ellen Schreiber 
• The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

NONFICTION

• Kawaii Bento Boxes:  Cute and Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go
• The Twilight Saga:  The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer

Blue Hair!

Last Thursday was blue hair day for me, thanks to everyone who participated in our Random-A-Thon fundraiser!  Because we raised over $1000, I got blue streaks in my hair.  OK, it's not completely crazy, but it was for me.  I have never dyed my hair any color before, let alone blue.  So, my friend Becca (who has years of wild hair dyeing behind her) went with me for moral support and picture-taking.  Here's the evidence:

Being goofy for the camera while arriving at American Mortals. 

 I actually had the rest of my hair dyed brown while lightening the area for the blue streaks. I figured I didn't need both blue and gray highlights!

 This is me thinking "What have I done!?" while getting ready to have the hair stripped a second time. I have never seen any shade of blonde hair on my head!

 Here is the stylist applying the blue dye.

 Waiting for the dye to process.

 Drying the hair.

Becca and me!

Finishing up the cut.

So, you can tell in that last picture that the blue dye didn't take so well.  They wanted to dye it again, but I had already been there for three hours and had to leave!  I promised to re-dye it myself, so they gave me a discount, which was really nice.  I added some blue Manic Panic dye last night, and it worked pretty well.  I'll have to take a few more pictures!

B&N Fundraiser Purchases

At lunchtime today, I went over to Barnes and Noble to spend our income from the library's bookfair fundraiser back in December.  We took our money in store credit rather than cash this year, and my share was $223!  I was able to replace some things that have been missing from our collection, as well as buy some new titles.  Thanks to everyone who shopped in the store and online back in December for helping us out! 

Look for these on the shelf in the next week or so:

• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (replacement copy)
• Ironside by Holly Black (replacement copy)
• Valiant by Holly Black (replacement copy)
• Forever by Judy Blume (replacement copy)
• Ambition by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Inner Circle by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Legacy by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Private by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Suspicion by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Vanished by Kate Brian (Private series)
• Forged by Fire by Sharon M. Draper (Hazelwood High trilogy; replacement copy)
• Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake (replacement copy)
• The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake (additional copy)
• Boys R Us by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• Dial L for Loser by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• The Pretty Committee Strikes Back by Lisi Harrison (Clique series; replacement copy)
• These Books Are Made for Stalking by Lisi Harrison (Clique series)
• The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (replacement copy)
• Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (replacement copy)
• The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series; additional copy)
• The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series; additional copy)
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series; additional copy)
• The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series; additional copy)
• The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series; additional copy)
• Killer by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)
• Wanted by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)
• Wicked by Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars series)
• A Girl Like Me by Ni-Ni Simone (replacement copy)
• What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones (replacement copy)
• What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones (replacement copy)

BLUE!!!!!

It's official.  All of the Random-A-Thon money has been turned in, and we reached $1008!!!  (Nitha and Christine put us over the top this week.)  Thanks to everyone who participated:  John, Kevin, Le, Genni, Alyssa, Owen, Nikki, Kaitlyn, Judy, Christine, Elena, David, Christelle, Billy, Saranjeet, Laurel, Maranda, Nathaniel, Georgia, Matt, Anas, Arig, Emily, Colin, Teferi, Ross, Jasmine B., Katie, Jamie, Conor, Christa, and Nitha.  Congratulations to you for reaching the goal!

Our top fundraiser was Billy, who contributed $160!  Billy gets a prize basket with a $25 gift card to Borders, candy, and snacks from the Teen Advisory Board.  Runners-up are Nitha with $89 and Christine with $65.  Good job!

The winning hair color?  BLUE!

Here's how the votes broke down:
Blue:  24
Purple:  19
Rainbow: 10
Pink: 9
Burgundy: 7
Turquoise:  6
Greenish-Brown: 2
Traffic Cone Orange:  2
Pikachu Yellow: 1
Prussian Blue: 1
Green:  1
White with Black Stripes: 1
Don't Dye It: 1

Look for the new hair color sometime in the next week or so.  :)

Random-A-Thon, 2011 Edition!

On Saturday, 31 teens showed up for our second annual Random-A-Thon fundraiser!  Everyon had to raise at least $10 in donations, then attended the event for as long as they wanted.  Most people stayed for several hours, and thirteen people were there all day!  We had a general outline of activities planned, but (of course) it was adaptable.  There were three or four things going on at once all day long and it was crazy. 

In the morning, we watched people's VHS tapes of their favorite cartoons, played board and card games, did bookswap, had a Connect Four tournament (David won), and played Dance Dance Revolution.  We took a lunch break with cup noodles, PB&J (or fluff), carrots and celery with dip, chips, and snack cakes.  (Special thanks to Laurel for making a random pie and to Maranda for randomly running home to get something to cut it!)  In the afternoon, we played WarioWare:  Smooth Moves, Just Dance, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and various editions of Rock Band.  There were also crafts, more board and card games, and an ice cream sundae break. 

Interspersed among all of that were activities from the Jar of Randomness.  We did everything from dancing the YMCA to all wearing peace sign necklaces to singing TV show theme songs to coloring pictures made from library teen photos!  Some of the activities earned people prizes from the Prize Box of Randomness, which was hilarious.  I filled a paper box with an assortment of stuff and people had to just reach in blindly and grab a prize.  The only rule was that they had to keep what they got, which made for some pretty funny combinations of people and prizes!

So far, we have raised $761 in cash and checks, with about $200 more in pledges due.  This puts us VERY CLOSE to the $1000 goal!  If we reach the goal, I will be putting colored streaks in my hair.  People got a vote on the color for every ten dollars they raised.   Right now, blue is in the lead, but not by much.  Other people still have to vote when they turn in their money, so that might change.  In addition to the money raised by teens, we've had a few anonymous donations from my coworkers.  They want to see me dye my hair as much as you do!!  All donations are due by March 12, so I'll update you as the money comes in.

Want to know more about the Random-A-Thon?  Check out the posts from last year's event!

Playing cards

 Connect Four tournament

Duct tape crafts included a woven wallet, a ninja animal pencil case, and a crown.

I found some random masks in the attic for the girls to decoupage.

People showing off their random crafts:  duct tape projects, a giant flip flop, and library photo coloring sheets!

Gift Card Bonus!

Even though the Teen Advisory Board's gift card donation program ended in mid-January, we are still getting cards from patrons!  This week, I got an additional $45.14 in donations, which brings our total up to $104.61.  Thanks for the new donations!!

Gift Card Fundraiser

For the past six weeks, the Teen Advisory Board has been collecting partially used or unwanted gift cards from library patrons.  We received a total of $59.47 at stores ranging from Borders to Home Depot to Dunkin Donuts.   No donation was too small...one card only has $.39 left on it!  We did get a few unused $10 cards, though, so that bumped up our total. 

All donations will buy prizes and supplies for upcoming teen programs.  I will be using some of them as I shop for programs, while others will be combined to purchase $5 gift cards for prizes.  Thanks to everyone who donated a gift card!

Barnes & Noble Bookfair Report

Saturday was our big bookfair day at the Barnes & Noble in Broomall, and it was a success!  Thanks to all of our library patrons who came to do their personal shopping, plus some shopping we did for the library, we are on track to make the most money ever!!  We are actually taking our fundraising dollars in books this year, so that will mean more new stuff for you in the coming weeks.

Thanks to TAB members Kaitlyn, Christine, and Elena who came by to help me select books to buy for the library's teen section.  Double thanks to Elena, who stuck around for three hours and helped the librarians at the gift wrapping table.

If you missed the day, don't worry.  You can shop in the store until December 10, and just tell them it's for the Upper Darby Libraries when you check out.  You can also shop online at http://www.bn.com/ through December 14, putting in our bookfair ID (10320109) when you check out.

Wanted: Your Old Gift Cards!

Do you have partially used gift cards taking up room in your wallet?  Make space for all of the new ones you'll be getting by donating the old ones to the library!  From now until January 15, pick up an envelope in the children's or adult rooms.  Donations will be consolidated and used to purchase materials and prizes for the 2011 summer reading program.  Every little bit helps...last year, we raised over $100 from this project!

Family Water Fun Day!

Last Wednesday, Mrs. Ryan and I put together our first-ever summer fundraiser, called Family Water Fun Day. We were assisted by library staff and a small army of teen volunteers, and it was definitely a success! Since the summer reading theme was Make a Splash, it wasn't hard to come up with a lot of creative and inexpensive water-themed stations for families to enjoy. We had all kinds of activities: water science, a fish pond, crafts, face painting, games, and (of course) snacks. But the best station was obviously Soak the Librarian! Mrs. Ryan and I were drenched from head to toe 292 times, according to the number of tickets collected. Altogether, we raised over $400 to help with our fall programs for kids and teens.

Some of the signs for the stations.

Fish Pong

Face Painting

Mrs. Ryan takes one for the team!

Water Science

Family Water Day Is Coming!

Support programs for kids and teens at our Family Water Day Fundraiser this Wednesday, August 11, from 1:00 to 4:00. Buy a $5 card to participate in activities, or just soak the librarians for 25 cents per throw!

The Teen Advisory Board (TAB) worked hard this week to make signs for the stations, and they will be working on Wednesday as well. Come visit us and bring your little siblings or cousins to the fundraiser! Remember to bring money for yourself as well as the kids.

Random-A-Thon Final Report

The final total for the teen Random-A-Thon Fundraiser is in! Altogether, we raised $932.75!!! That is an amazing total for our first effort of this kind. Huge thanks to our 24 teen fundraisers: Kaitlyn, Christine, Genni, Ross, John, Tommy, Laurel, Nitha, Nikki, David, Avis, Billy, Alexa, Owen, Georgia, Jasmine, Leslie, Matthew, Anas, Morgan, Emily, Colin, Conor, and Elena.

I can now officially award the fundraising prize to Nitha! Nitha raised $204 by asking her favorite current and former high school teachers for small donations. Go Nitha!!! Nitha wins a $25 gift card to Borders and a basket of reading goodies from the Teen Advisory Board. Billy gets an honorable mention for raising $150 in just one week.

All participants could designate where their fundraising money went in my budget, and gaming was the overwhelming winner with $256 donated. Gamers are already enjoying new games, new equipment, and good tournament prizes with this money.

We are definitely doing this again next winter! Thanks again!!! All participants will be receiving a thank-you note in the mail soon. Please share it with everyone who donated to you.

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.