News for the Week and some very special stories from our patrons

Special thanks to Kristin, Zander, Tessa, Susannah, and Alejandria for pulling together a compelling schedule for our 21 Week Equity Challenge discussions. We know you will all be gracious hosts for these sessions and your leadership is much appreciated.
Remember, all  staff must participate in at least one of these discussions so schedule now to make sure you secure a spot.

We have a very busy week ahead:

• The annual African American Read-In is scheduled this Saturday via Facebook Live starting at 1pm.  KPL continues to partner with many community organizations to bring this important event to Kenosha and Zander has been our representative. As  always, there will be a great performance to start us off, followed by short readings from local celebrities and students. Don't miss it!
• We're hosting Tuesday's election at SW and NS again this year. Monday is setup, Wednesday is takedown.  NS library service hours will remain the same on Tuesday since election activities will be confined to the activities room. At SW, the election will be held in the new central activities room, which means we'll be open for library business from 7am to 8pm to coincide with the election. Thanks to everyone who is adjusting their schedules that day to accommodate this change.
• Library Legislative Day is also on Tuesday, February 16th, and we'll be meeting with our state legislators online to thank them for their support and brag about all the good things we're doing at KPL.

Hopefully you've noticed the Love Your Library story survey on our library website. This is a SHARE group effort to collect stories that we can use when we talk to our funders about how important library service is to their constituents. We've received some beautiful responses, and I want to share them with all of you, who are the main reason Kenosha loves their library so much. Just in case you wonder if all your hard work matters, wonder no more:

During the week, the library offers a quiet place that I can breath as a mom of many.  My friend watches my toddlers while I come for some "me" time at the library... free, restful, and productive.  I wouldn't trade my library time for anything!

I love the library for a variety of reasons! 

I have a learning disability. 

The teams working at the library have ALWAYS assisted professionally and kindly! 

I am THEN ABLE to achieve goal!

I attend classes, check out materials.

Not having a computer or cd/dvd players I'm grateful for the building itself where I go to utilize services and resources available.

I'm especially grateful for the copy/print services and am always happy to pay for this.

The neighborhood wouldn't be healthy without our libraries! they serve ALL ages for many social reasons also.

Love taking my grandchildren on a date to library!! Zoom Rooms ok yet face to face a must for humanity!!

Libraries are an important highlight to me. I've actively used libraries for over 55 years and it's the place I can afford to attend. Ever grateful for the education through numerous resource's!

Growing up was challenging for me: my parents were divorced, we were very poor and spent a lot of energy trying to hide that we did not have enough for clothes, food, toys, school supplies. 

After school was done for the day, I would not rush home; there was no-one there, and nothing to eat. 

My sister and I wandered around local stores, but our favorite place became a bookstore. We would sit on our school book bags, and read all the stories that ended with “happily ever after!” I became addicted to those stories. They made my heart lighter. 

I read every book that had similar themes in our classroom’s library. Then I started borrowing books from other students... I consumed books like food. I was transported... away from shame, hurts, abuse and ugliness. 

I finally joined a library but had to pay for membership! People don’t know how lucky they are to have access to so many reading materials in public libraries for free. 

When I came to this country, the library was my favorite haunt.. so many books! No limits to how many I could check out! Growing up, books saved me. Gave me a place to hide. A place to identify with characters going through similar struggles. There really is no way to say how books have held my life together, and raised me in very trying circumstances. 

This week's Bright Spot Award comes from Rosa:
Bright Spot for Heather and Martha who helped me last week Saturday jump start my vehicle in the bitter cold weather. Thank you for your help and willingness to bear the cold so that I could get home safely. 

(Heather and Martha, thanks for your perpetual kindness! - Barb)