Meredith Hosts the Gulf Beaches Public Library Fundraiser

On Saturday, March 3^rd, I had the opportunity to host the Gulf Beaches Public Library’s 5^th Annual Food for Thought fundraiser in Maderia Beach, FL.  What a thrill it was to give back to the place where my dream of becoming a librarian began in 2005 when I met a librarian named Maggie Cinnella.  In 2010, I was volunteering at the library while finishing my last semester of graduate school, so my help with the fundraiser that year consisted of running around and doing whatever they needed me to do whether it was carrying plates of food and trying to convince people to spend more money on raffle items.  It is incredible that in just two years, I was now hosting the event!  Which once again consisted of carrying plates of food and trying to convince people to spend more money on raffle items.  But I also got a chance to tell jokes and play my purple ukelele that had been collecting dust for six years! 

 

More importantly, as a librarian, it gave me a chance to show gratitude to the people that made me want to work in the library field in the first place.  As a comedian, it gave me an open opportunity to heckle audience members into donating money to the library.  How cool is that?  A win-win for everybody!

Anyway, I know many of you out there couldn’t make it to the event, but you can still donate money!  Just go to http://gulfbeacheslib.org/ to learn how.  To see all the fun you missed, just watch the video above.  Enjoy!

Entertaining the crowd.

 

With Circulation Manager Stan Silverstein.

 

Library staff & volunteers come together
...over vino.

With Library Director Maggie Cinnella.

Playing my ukelele with Les Morrell.