Death of a Library
It's been a hard year for a lot of people and our church hasn't been exempt - one of the things going on at this point is we found out the old grade school people, who already caused us so much misery in the past that ended in our abrupt and traumatic closure of the school, have come back to haunt us. Turns out they never completed the permits for their two classroom modulars.
Now the county refuses to let us keep the modulars unless we pay a stunning $90,000 and "bring them up to code" and dig a drainage pond. This is a number so far into the stratosphere for our little congregation that it's simply impossible - especially as we've been scraping to just try replacing our aging furnace this year (it was used back when it was installed...in 1967...). We're now looking for someone who will take the modulars off our hands for free if they will do the work to move them because we can't even afford to move them.
Because of this, our very active Food Cupboard that feeds so many people in this community that was filling those modulars has to move into the main building. And the only suitable room for it is... my library.
So I'm bracing myself to lose most of the library that I spent the past 15 years building and maintaining.
I expect we'll keep the preschool books by making a little 'preschool' library among the preschool classrooms, and I think I can keep the adult/reference stuff in a room that has built in bookshelves that aren't being used. The rest....well, I just have to keep repeating to myself that feeding people is more important than books that are, truthfully, only occasionally being read. It's important. I admit I'm still somewhat in shock, but I'm trying to roll with the punches. Though yes, this really hurts.
No matter what, we have a heck of a job ahead this summer, as neither books nor refrigerators nor bookcases nor cases of applesauce are lightweight objects and we've a limited number of people with strong backs. The county is only giving us until July. :-(
Now the county refuses to let us keep the modulars unless we pay a stunning $90,000 and "bring them up to code" and dig a drainage pond. This is a number so far into the stratosphere for our little congregation that it's simply impossible - especially as we've been scraping to just try replacing our aging furnace this year (it was used back when it was installed...in 1967...). We're now looking for someone who will take the modulars off our hands for free if they will do the work to move them because we can't even afford to move them.
Because of this, our very active Food Cupboard that feeds so many people in this community that was filling those modulars has to move into the main building. And the only suitable room for it is... my library.
So I'm bracing myself to lose most of the library that I spent the past 15 years building and maintaining.
I expect we'll keep the preschool books by making a little 'preschool' library among the preschool classrooms, and I think I can keep the adult/reference stuff in a room that has built in bookshelves that aren't being used. The rest....well, I just have to keep repeating to myself that feeding people is more important than books that are, truthfully, only occasionally being read. It's important. I admit I'm still somewhat in shock, but I'm trying to roll with the punches. Though yes, this really hurts.
No matter what, we have a heck of a job ahead this summer, as neither books nor refrigerators nor bookcases nor cases of applesauce are lightweight objects and we've a limited number of people with strong backs. The county is only giving us until July. :-(