 | | | From left: Beth Girshman, Virginia Tracy, Wendell Baker, Stephen
DaRodda, Anna Evans Photo Andy Scheck
| | | | | | Virginia Tracy and Anna Evans sort through the bags of books scattered over the porch near the entrance of the Moraga library. Every week, the two petite volunteers receive around a thousand books donated to the Friends of the Moraga library.
The volumes are left in large plastic bins inside the library when it is open, but residents don't stop giving during off hours and books are often left on the patio. New bins for the outer area would have been expensive had not an aspiring Eagle Scout, Steven DaRodda of Troop 234, contacted the library in search of a project. "We asked him to build new bins and he did it beautifully," said Friends' President Nancy Hom as she received the carriages on January 10.
DaRodda, a freshman at Campolindo High School, designed the new wooden bins himself. "I constructed them in plywood and made them with pivoting wheels so they'd be easily maneuverable," he said. He painted them the same color as the furniture in the library's lobby.
The new bins will ultimately be left inside, while the plastic ones are set to go outside. "The building belongs to the Town, we need to ask them permission to do so," said Hom. Having bins outside will greatly improve the tidiness of the front porch.
This troop supports the library in many ways. "Troop 234 has adopted the library," said Hom. "They come every time we have a book sale to help move and set up the thousands of books."
"The library is seriously enriched by volunteers like Stephen, to make things we couldn't even imagine," said Moraga Senior Librarian Beth Girshman.
Tracy and Evans sort the donated books into five categories and store them in labeled boxes that are stacked in two huge storage crates at the back of the library where the await the next Friends of the Library book sale - the next sale will be on February 4th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The sale is a major funding for the Friends, who in turn support most of the recreational programs the library offers.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA