Library benefit, Taste of the Carolinas are coming

Organizers of Sept. 29 fall festival at Sun City hope to raise $20,000
CHRIS MCGINN-The Charlotte Observer

Mark your calendars now for the second Fall into Fun Festival to benefit the Del Webb Library at Indian Land.
This communitywide event will be held at Sun City Carolina Lakes on Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a separate Taste of the Carolinas event beginning at 6 p.m.
Special guest entertainer Richard Simmons will be on hand, and the day will be capped with evening fireworks.
Last year's festival raised nearly $10,000 for the future library, and organizers hope to double that amount this year.
Karen Paulson, Lancaster County library board chairwoman, said the board would begin receiving bids for construction of the $2.2 million library in August. (kp: Actually I said we HOPE to be receiving bids by then)Construction should begin by year's end.
Festival planners include the Indian Land Rotary Club and a team of more than 30 community members. Lots of volunteers are still needed for the day of the event, and business and crafts vendors can set up booths at the festival.
Karen said they also need someone to lead the teen area of the festival and vendors to provide activities. Last year's provider of a rock-climbing wall and skate park is no longer in business. (kp: Actually the climbing wall was provided by JROTC. We hope to have that again this year. It's Estrada Extreme Sports, last year's provider of the skate park, that is no longer in business)

For more information on ways you can help, visit http://indianlandlibrary.blogspot.com or e-mail indianlandlibrary@gmail.com.

Moving Ahead

This past Monday, July 23, I took over as chairperson of the Lancaster County Library Board. Between you, me, and the fencepost, there really is not much to it. Show up to the meetings (every other month) on time, start the meeting on time, know a little of Robert's Rules, and then get out of Dodge with the budget still in the black.

I've been on the board since...hmm...2004? I think so. I can't really remember. I took over the Indian Land spot from Pat Lowe, media specialist at ILEMS.

When I first accepted the position from then councilman Stanley Smith, I asked Pat what the library board was working on.

"Well, we've been trying to get a library up here the entire time I've been on it," she said. "Maybe you'll be lucky and it'll get built while you are on."

It looks like that will happen! Last Monday as I led the meeting, I entertained a motion to accept the plans for the new Del Webb Library @ Indian Land. AND, I entertained a motion to go for bids "as soon as is practical." The motions were carried unanimously.

As I listened to our architect, Danny Shelley, tell us that we are all ready to go...our part is done...I glanced down at the draft of the bid specs and saw my name in huge letters on the front. Bids will be submitted to Karen Paulson, Chair, Lancaster County Library.

It doesn't matter that I don't know the first thing about bids or buildings or temperatures at which concrete must be poured. We have professionals for that. But I am completely in awe of the responsibility and honor of being part of the board as we embark on this adventure. It's going to be hard for me to not feel like a proud owner the first time I walk into our new library!

We hope to go out for bid at the end of September. There are still some final permits to obtain, some final things to iron out about the utilities. But once those bids are received and accepted, we will hit the ground running. We still have a little more than $400k to raise, but we are really hoping that Indian Land will catch the fever and drop in their nickels and dimes when they start seeing the bricks being laid.

Invitation to Help with 5K Run

From Mitzie Schafer, Crossroads Lutheran Church:

This is an invitation to help with the first Indian Land 5K Run/Walk. I will be sending out letters to all the local churches to help with things like water, t-shirts, registration, marking off the roads, prizes, making and handing out brochures, etc. Money and foot work are needed prior to and the day of. the run will be held first thing in the morning, so you will not miss out on any of the days events. You can read about the event in this week's Gateway. If any of you would like to help put this together a meeting will be held next Thursday evening (July 16)at 7:30 PM at Crossroads Lutheran Church. Please come if you interested in serving the community in this way.

Please email this to anyone you think would be interested in helping! THANKS!

Quick Details:
The run will be called: Running to Read The Indian Land 5K Run/Walk and Toddler Trot for Literacy.
All proceeds will go to the new Indian Land Library.
The time will be at 8:30 AM with registration from 7:45 to 8:15 AM
Date: Saturday, September 29th, 2007
Location: Begin at Indian Land High School and end at Sun City - tentative.
Registrations should be mailed to: Running to Read 8511 Shelley Mullis Rd
Checks payable to: Running to Read
Strollers and families will be allowed
1st Prize Male: $100.00
1st Prize Female: $100.00
Toddler Trot Prizes: Some type of book for all the children
T-shirts for every runner
Entry Fee: $25.00 5K adult participants, $15.00 for children in Toddler trot (Adults are free if they registered for the 5K, if not $15.00)
Sun City residents are invited to be in their yards with sprinklers to cool runners off.

Help Needs:
Mail out registration forms
Collect registration forms
Design, organize sizes, and order t-shirts
Design and copy running numbers/purchase safety pins
Organize something to mark off the roads for runners, and so cars do not come into their lane.
Folks to "man" the registration table
Group to hand out water during the race/and the end of race
Group to hand out t-shirts at the end of the race
Someone to purchase the water and bananas for the end of race, or get them donated.
Someone to get Toddler Trot prizes donated: a book preferably.

Anything I forgot...we will need help with that also!

Mitzie Schafer
Crossroads Lutheran Church
"A Place Where Love Lives!"
8511 Shelley Mullis Rd*
Fort Mill SC 29707
803-547-8311
crossroadslutheran@yahoo.com www.crossroadslutheran.org
Jason Schafer, Pastor
Mitzie Schafer, AIM

Library Project Update

The Carolina Gateway, June 27, 2007-
BY JENNY HARTLEY
jhartley@thelancasternews.com

Indian Land Action Council President Mack McDonald wonders why no work has been done on the Del Webb Library at Indian Land. The library is slated to be built in Carolina Commons, the
commercial district at Sun City Carolina Lakes. Del Webb, which is developing Sun City, contributed 2 acres of land and $1.5 million toward construction of the library. McDonald said Del Webb has built 1,000 homes at Sun City and what he called a “fancy” entrance at the retirement community for the age 55 and up crowd. The company also landscaped the median in front of the development. But only a sign marks where the library will be. Some of the action council is disheartened that work hasn't begun, McDonald said. “Nothing has happened,” he
said. “I've worked in government for 25 years and I understand the wheels of government
turn slowly. But the library stalled. I'm kind of disappointed in that.”

Karen Paulson, who becomes chairwoman of the Lancaster County Library Board on July 1,
said the library has been delayed several times, but she expects bids for the project to
go out in mid-July. “This is a joint effort between Lancaster County, RED Partners (the developing company for Carolina Commons) and Sun City,” Paulson said. “There were some glitches to be worked out.” But work so far has moved slowly because it takes time to
work out planning a library for a commercial center. The latest delay is getting a vacant home on the site torn down or moved. Original plans were to give it away to someone
who would pay to move it. Now the library board is looking for bids to tear it down. Paulson said she's beginning to get worried that Lancaster County won't be able to come up with more funding for the library before books and furnishings need to be bought. Those items will need to be bought before the county's next budget year, which will begin July 1, 2008.

The construction and furnishing cost of the library is $2.2 million. Including Del Webb’s $1.5 million, outstanding pledges and pledges already received, the library has about $1.9 million so far. County Council negotiated for Del Webb's contribution and for a $100,000 contribution from the developers of Bretagne, a high-end neighborhood in Indian Land. Some of the pledges the library has received will not be made until 2008 or 2009. For example, Founders Federal
Credit Union’s pledge of $50,000 will be made over five years. Bretagne's contribution won’t come to the county until 2009.

Lancaster County Library Director Richard Band asked County Council in a June 11 letter to include the library in a bond issue the council was considering to build a new magistrate's
office and buy new computers for the county and heavy equipment for the public works
department. County Council did not discuss including the library's needs in the bond issue.

Once ground breaks at the site and work starts, Paulson said she feels donations for the
library will begin to pick up. “Once we start seeing some activity on the site, I think the
personal donations will pick up, but even the corporations and businesses will start getting
excited,” Paulson said.

County Councilman Bryan Vaughn, who represents Indian Land, said County Council has
designated large contributions from developers to the library. “The Bretagne money could
have gone to the general fund,” Vaughn said. “We just said up front that you’re going to designate $100,000 to the library.” Vaughn said he thinks there's ample money now to build the library. Once construction begins, he believes more contributions will be made. “Everything else will fall into place,” he said.

In other Library News: The Carolina Gateway and Sun City are organizing another "Fall into Fun" festival for the Del Webb Library at Indian Land. Last year’s festival raised about $9,000. Organizers expect this year’s festival, set for Sept. 29, to raise at least $20,000.

To reserve a booth, volunteer or just for details, call Carolina Gateway editor Jane Alford at 803.283.1154.

Lancaster County Library News

From the Carolina Gateway
Lancaster County Library Director Richard Band participated in Connecting to Collections: The National Conservation Summit last week in Washington, D.C. Only four representatives –
two from museums and two from libraries – from each state and the District of Columbia were selected to attend this national conference sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The event underscored the risks that endanger America’s books, works of art, documents, and other treasures and promoted solutions for saving them. Those selected to attend the summit have a strong commitment to conservation and are among the best people in the country to spearhead a national conservation initiative, said IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice. “After the summit, we hope that the conversation about saving invaluable collections will continue in communities across the U.S.”

Participants at the meeting represented small and medium-sized museums, libraries and historic organizations with a proven dedication and commitment to conservation. They were joined at the meeting by national leaders in conservation, government officials and leaders in private sector support for conservation.

The Lancaster County Library houses an extensive collection of manuscript material related
to local history and genealogy. For the past two years, the library has used an IMLS grant to inventory and organize these holdings to preserve them and make them available to students
and researchers. Project Director Joanne Ellis has created a Web site – http://history.lanclib.org – where users can survey the scope of the collections, including photographs. The grant is administered by the S.C. State Library under the federal Library Services and Technology Act. Heritage Preservation, the national organization devoted to
preserving America’s heritage, is cooperating with IMLS to organize the summit. Heritage Preservation’s 2005 report, A Public Trust at Risk: the Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, revealed that there are 4.8 billion artifacts held in this country’s archives, libraries, museums and historical societies – many of these in small- to medium-sized towns and cities.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for
the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The institute’s mission is to create strong
libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. To learn more about the
institute, go to www.imls.gov.

Festival for new Library will Bigger & Better

From The Carolina Gateway, July 18, 2007

The Carolina Gateway newspaper and Sun City: Carolina Lakes have announced plans for their
second annual "Fall into Fun" festival to benefit the Del Webb Library at Indian Land.

The event will take place on Sept. 29 on the grounds of Sun City. (The date was changed so that the festival would not conflict with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Charlotte on Oct. 6.)

Last year’s festival earned more than $11,000 for the Indian Land branch of Lancaster County Library. The new library is expected to open next year.

About 25 people came to a planning meeting at The Lake House on July 12 and volunteered to coordinate various areas of the festival. “Sun City Carolina Lakes is allowing us twice as much
space as last year, so I think this festival has the potential to bring in a lot more than last year’s,” said organizer Jane Alford, editor of Carolina Gateway. “We’ll have a business fair, which was popular last year, and we hope to draw more artists and craftspeople.”

“We’re trying to get a hot air balloon ride set up, some sort of car/motorcycle/golf cart show, more children’s events, and rotating bands on the stage,” Alford said. “Sun City is also planning to bring in a very special guest that day who should really boost attendance.”

Running to Read, a 5K run sponsored by Crossroads Lutheran Church, will be held in conjunction with the festival. Proceeds from the run will also go to the library.

Festival organizers are also planning a “Taste of the Carolinas,” an upscale food event to be held in the evening. Music and fireworks will cap the day.

The Del Webb Library at Indian Land is a $2.2 million project. To date, $1,758,000 has been raised, leaving a shortfall of about $442,000. The library plans to go out for bids this summer.

If you are interested in helping organize the festival, or are a vendor who would like to rent a booth, send an e-mail to Indianlandlibrary@ gmail.com. or call Jane Alford at (803) 283-1154.
Volunteers and those interested in leading committees will meet at 7 p.m. July 26 at the Lake House at Sun City Carolina Lakes.