Friends of Kennett Library
Membership
Your show of support to the Kennett Library through membership as a Friend of Kennett Library is greatly appreciated and can be made in several ways:
- By completing the online Membership Application and submitting it in person to the Circulation Desk of the Kennett Library
- By completing the online Membership Application and mailing it to:
Kennett Library
320 E. State Street
Kennett Square, PA 19348 - Completing and submitting a paper Membership Application available at the Circulation Desk
Click below for the Friends of Kennett Library Membership Application
Annual Membership dues are $20 and go to support the Kennett Library.
Benefits of being a Friend of Kennett Library
No library fines
Invitation to Friends member appreciation events
Advanced registration for space-limited library programs
Receive the Friends Newsletter, which includes advance information about upcoming events.
The knowledge that your support of the Kennett Library makes our community better.
Friends of Kennett Library Board of Directors – 2023
Executive Board
Annette Bowers, President
Carol Yetter, Vice President/Secretary
Barbara Bolton, Kennett Library Board of Trustees Liaison
Chris Manna, Kennett Library Director
At Large Board Members
Gail Bowden
Anne Coleman
Sandy Cumbaa
Judith Diner
Carolyn Mostyn
Sue Soraruf
Mary Hutchins, Capital Campaign Liaison
A win for the library, a win for the community!
Kennett Library Shop & Dine
31 Chances to Win!Thank you to our wonderful sponsors and our many volunteers who helped make the 2023 Shop and Dine fundraiser a huge success. The Friends raised $25,200 through this event! All of the proceeds go to support the Children’s Programs and the Adult Literacy Program at Kennett Library.
Click for more details
We’re so glad you’re here!!
Every outstanding community needs a great library, and every great library needs Friends. The Friends of Kennett Library is a membership-based organization of library enthusiasts made up of residents of Kennett Square borough and the townships of Kennett, New Garden, Newlin, Pennsbury, Pocopson, and East & West Marlborough. Formed in March 2020 at the direction of the Kennett Library Board of Trustees, we have been handed the easiest job in the world to assist in the support and celebration of the Kennett Library.
Our Mission
We aim to actively support the Kennett Library through advocacy, volunteer services, and fundraising.
Who we are:
We are a network of enthusiastic library supporters working to enhance the already established place of the Kennett Library as the center of information, learning, culture, social connection, and civic engagement in our community.
What we do:
- Increase community awareness of the Kennett Library
- Sponsor the annual Shop & Dine Fundraiser
- Advocate for the Kennett Library at the local level for increased financial support
- Keep our members informed and engaged with the Kennett Library
- Hold an annual membership drive to grow the Friends group and celebrate the Kennett Library
- Encourage gifts, endowments, and bequests for the benefit of the Kennett Library
- Contribute our time and talent as needed
Funding
The Kennett Library receives 67% of its annual operating expenses from local municipalities and must raise the remaining 33% yearly. As a committee operating under the direction of the Board of Trustees of the Kennett Library, 100% of the funds raised by the Friends go directly to the operations and programming of the Kennett Library. Fundraising will occur through membership dues and our annual Shop & Dine Raffle. We hope to add more fundraisers in the future.
In 1989, Library Board Chairman Tom Swett asked Susan del Baso to form a committee to “Make the Library some money.” Susan enlisted JoAnn Shoemaker, Audrey Donohue, Nancy Olson, G. Margaret Hennes and Stefanie Gulden Jackson and thus was born the Special Events Committee (SEC). And make money for the Library they did.
In 1990 the first annual Bayard Taylor Memorial Library Home and Garden Tour was held. Following the success of this first event, the group decided to add a fall fundraiser. In the fall of 1991, the committee held its first Bayard Taylor Memorial Library Kitchen Tour which ran as an annual event for six years, from 1991-1996.
From its beginnings in 1990 through 2020, the SEC created and held other fundraisers to benefit the Library such as the Gift Box from 1998-2007 and First Night, but it was the Home and Garden Tour that became the signature event, raising over $600,000.00 for the Library.
We would like to give thanks and recognition to all past members of the SEC who gave countless hours to benefit the Library as Founders of the SEC and/or serving as Chairpersons of the Home and Garden Tour for one or more years.
Should anyone have photos of these members, activities related to the planning or Home and Garden event, and be willing to share them with us, we would love to include them in our Historical File and on this web page.
Founding Members
Susan del Baso
JoAnn Shoemaker
Audrey Donohue
Nancy Olson
G. Margaret Hennes
Stephanie Gulden Jackson
Chairpersons of the Home and Garden Tours throughout the years
Susan Del Baso
Linda Bivens
Gail Bowden
Annette Bowers
Marylou A. Bristol
Barbara Cairns
Louise Colburn
Janet Colella
Kathy Cotton
Jacqueline D’Cruz
Carol Davidson
Audrey Donohue
Pricilla Dugdale
Mary Nell Ferry
Maureen Firth
Babara C. Heckman
G. Margaret Hennes
Margaret Higgs
Jacqueline Holveck
Margorie U. Kaskey
Everitt L. Miller
Gerry Mirshak
Kathy Norris
Nancy Olson
Joann Shoemaker
Marian Simpson
Silvia Umbreit
Helen Wagner
Hanna Woodward
Carol Yetter
