Fundraising group works to raise profile of Community Library of Allegheny Valley

Harrison resident Mary Lou Beck spends a lot of time in retirement brainstorming ways to work.

A member of the Friends of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley, Beck keeps busy year-round raising money and awareness of the facility that serves 20,000 people in six municipalities.

“We do fundraisers, and we are out at community events,” she said. “But a lot of our job is thinking of ways to attract people to the library.”

Friends of the Library meets at 10 a.m. the third Thursday of each month at the site along Broadview Boulevard. Meetings are free and open to new members. Volunteers also are needed for community outreach.

Active for years, the group was diminished by the pandemic. Director Suzy Ruskin said a few core members have breathed new life into the group and “have hit the ground running.”

At its peak, there were more than 15 members. There are currently about six.

“I believe in volunteerism,” Beck said. “The library is an important part of the community, and it needs our support.”

The Community Library of Allegheny Valley serves Harrison, Tarentum, Fawn, Brackenridge, East Deer and Frazer.

In each municipality, library volunteers make an effort to mingle with people at church festivals and school open houses. They make visits to day care centers, Head Start classrooms and the YMCA.

“I don’t think people realize all the important things that the library does,” Friends member Celeste Calabrese said. “We deliver books to the Hope Center and the dialysis clinics. We make reading available.”

The Harrison resident said it was a natural fit for her to join the group. A former librarian at Highlands and Freeport Area school districts, Calabrese has always had a passion for promoting literacy.

This year, the Friends group hopes to bolster the library’s budget by raffling four seasonal gift baskets.

Members also are making a big push to raise the library’s profile.

“We have ideas we’re not capable of taking on because we need more help,” said Beth McCullough of Harrison.

A longtime supporter of the library, McCullough helped to compile a fundraiser cookbook last year that was filled with recipes cherished by Valley residents.

More than 100 copies sold out in the first printing, partly spurred by pages filled with nostalgic photos and tales of local history.

Proceeds helped to pay for new furniture at the library.

McCullough, a retired pharmacy technician from West Penn Hospital, said she would love to see more large-scale fundraisers that get the community involved.

Growing up in a New Jersey suburb, she saw her family be actively involved in her hometown library.

She was brought up to appreciate the value of a library and hopes to help others recognize the same.

“I’ve been here on afternoons when the kids pile in after school,” McCullough said. “It’s no longer the libraries of the past, so quiet. People come to use the computers, do homework and socialize.”