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Almaden Business Association 2005 Community Service Project Children’s Storytime Area Sponsorship In Almaden’s New Community Center and Branch Library |
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Almaden Business Association |
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Almaden Valley Businesses Joined Together |
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CONGRATULATIONS to all ABA members and other contributors to our 2005 community service project, benefiting the most popular area in the beautiful new Almaden Library and Community Center – the Children’s Storytime Area! This project is in keeping with the fourth tenet of our Mission Statement, “To support community service programs within our neighborhood.” |
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And we are grateful to the many ABA members, Almaden area businesses, and residents who joined us in not only achieving, but far exceeding, the goals we had set for this important project. This library branch is being completely rebuilt as part of the joint Almaden Community Center/Library project. This center for the Almaden community has an innovative design that will cater to the needs of every Almaden citizen, regardless of age or interest! It is a library for the Twenty-First Century! And what better section to support than the storytime area for the children of our community! To see a diagram of this 64,000 square foot destination facility that is scheduled to open in April 2006, click here. Our partner in this project is the San Jose Public Library Foundation (SJPLF), which has a mission to enhance all of the 17 new libraries throughout the city, by partnering with local organizations such as ours. Representatives from the SJPLF gave a brief overview at our June meeting, about the “Libraries of the Future” that are being built today in San Jose.
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As a locally-focused organization, we have an opportunity to put a permanent and very positive mark on the community, by specifically assisting and encouraging the children and families of Almaden to stimulate the Imagination, experience the Joy, and see the Wonderment that reading together brings. ABA’s initial goal was to raise $15,000 to sponsor this area of the library. We exceeded this goal by more than 100% through a combination of direct solicitation to members of the business community in the Almaden/Blossom Valley area and plans for a Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament. Over five months of effort went into the preparation for the Poker Tournament and getting individual direct donors for this Library project. A week and a half before the scheduled October 22nd Texas Hold’em event, the group was notified by email from the Library Foundation that their direct donor efforts had already generated more than the original $15,000 goal. This news inspired ABA members to push forward with the idea of seeing how far we could go over our goal. However, just two days before the October 20, 2005 event was to be held, ABA was notified by the State Department of Justice that anyone associated with the Tournament would be cited for illegal gambling if we went through with the event planned. After the committee realized that there was nothing that could be done to change the tournament on such short notice, the tournament was cancelled. This setback only made the ABA Community Service Committee more determined to use the publicity from that cancellation to raise more money than if we had actually held the event. Word spread quickly, through a massive public relations effort and the cooperation of the local press, resulting in two major contributions: $10,000 from the Lee & Diane Brandenberg Family Trust and $1,000 from the San Jose Fire Fighters Association. When combined with many contributions from a high percentage of those people who had intended to play in or attend the tournament, this brought the total raised over the $30,000 mark.
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Members of the Almaden business Association fundraising committee take a sneak peak at the Children’s Storytime area of the new Almaden Library, slated to open in January. Shown from L-R; Carole Edman, Jim Kabel, Rich De La Rosa, Edie Fehling, Cathy Spielberger Cassetta, Rich Crowley, Doug Keller, and from the San Jose Firefighter’s Association, Mark Skeen. A huge thanks goes to the SJ Firefighter’s Association, who presented the ABA with a check for $1,000 for the Children’s Storytime area of the new library! Photo above by Kymberli Brady of the Almaden Times. Other photos by Carole Edman. |
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Photos from June 2005: |
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Updates on library construction from October/November 2005: |
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ABA Board members and Community Service Committee members met to survey the progress being made on the new center. (l to r): Pete Bucter, Rich Crowley, Doug Keller, Cathy Spielberger Cassetta, Carole Edman, Edie Fehling, Jim Young, Dave Roche (photo credit to Sara Holcomb of the Almaden Resident) |
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Preview photos of the library, taken at the VIP fundraiser on May 4, 2006.
Photo of Doris Dillon--an elementary school educator, librarian and an advocate of children's literacy, who died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2001-- hangs in the children's section of the renovated library. The children’s section of the new library was named to honor Doris Dillon. "Her spirit will live very happily in the children's library," Pat Dando said. "That's where she would have been anyway." After four years of planning, fund-raising, and building, the doors of the new Almaden Branch Library and Community Center are finally open. To learn more facts and features about the library and the opening event festivities, check out these articles: http://www.almadentimes.com/012606/alm_library.htm http://www.community-newspapers.com/archives/almadenresident/20060511/cover1.shtml http://www.almadentimes.com/051106/lib_col2.htm |
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preview tour of children's area |
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Children's area book sorting |
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The wait is over! The new library officially opened in May 2006. |