Friends' Annual Meeting | President's Remarks

If you weren’t able to attend the May 22, 2021, Annual Meeting then here’s your chance to hear about some of the Friends’ successes during the year of the pandemic. President Jane Ward provides highlights from the 2021-2021 year of programs, advocacy, and support for the Edgewater Branch Library. She also offers some thoughts about the upcoming year of 2021-2022 as Friends’ approaches its 30th Anniversary in 2022.

In spite of the pandemic, it was a busy year for us. We were the first Chicago-based Friends’ group to jump into Zoom to continue bringing programming to our members, neighborhood and Chicagoland residents, and friends from around the country and the world.

Our book sales, the main course of our funding, were canceled - we were not deterred and many of you offered financial support beyond your early dues to enable us to continue producing programs through the latest technology.

When we could, we supported library staff with additional masks, sanitizer, and other pandemic-related materials to keep them safe, while also providing perks to keep them motivated and let them know how much we appreciated them being there every day - even when patrons could not enter the Edgewater branch.

As we move into re-opening and a post-pandemic environment, we’re excited about the possibilities of perhaps being in-person once again, while continuing to offer online programming for an audience that reaches beyond the bounds of Edgewater.

Lastly, 2022 celebrates 30 years of Friends of the Edgewater Library. We hope to have many different ways of honoring the people who worked tirelessly to make sure that the Edgewater neighborhood had a vibrant and active community resource in the Edgewater Branch Library.

Enjoy this video and please send any ideas and comments to Friends of the Edgewater Library or post comments below. Thanks for watching.