Impact of Your Support
One hundred percent of your donations go toward library programming. In fiscal year 2024-2025, the Friends sponsored over 90 library activities in the following categories:
| # |
Adult |
Youth |
Movie |
Music |
Total |
|
Events |
26 |
45 |
4 |
16 |
91 |
|
Attendees |
1,450 |
850 |
200 |
300 |
2,800 |
Specific examples of recent events and programs sponsored by the Friends include:
- Paula Clare and Friends Afternoon of American Jazz Standards and Brazilian Bossa Nova
- Atwater Donnelly Traditional American Folk Music and Dance performance
- Yanni Pandelidis and Friends Greek Music Performance
- Music at the Blissful performance by Evan Haller
- Black Flags, Blue Waters talk by best-selling author Eric Jay Dolan
- Common and Uncommon Backyard Birds of Rhode Island with Geoff Dennis
- Conservation Through Birding Tourism by Charles Clarkson, Audubon Society of RI
- Apples, Art, and Spirit: Growing an Organic Apple by author, artist, and orchardist Linda Hoffman
- Silvermoon Mars LaRose presentation on the Tomaquag Museum
- World premiere of the documentary Beyond Bucha: Finding the Spirit in Ukraine
- Poetry Reading and Dialogue by RI Poet Laureate Colin Channer
- Mushroom Hunting with “Ryan the Mushroom Hunter”
- Atlantic Shark Institute conservation presentation by Jon Dodd
- Spanish Bilingual Story Time sessions throughout the year for preschool youth
- Youth chess classes throughout the year
- Summer Reading Program and Winter Reading Challenge activities for all age groups
- Book clubs, movies, and craft events for all age groups throughout the year
- Vacation and holiday programs for preschool, elementary, and middle school age groups
- Three annual electronic waste collections (free for most items)
- New addition by popular demand: free paper-shredding event
The Friends continue to seek community input on library patrons’ programming interests. A recent survey showed that the most requested topics (cited by at least one-third of respondents) are:
- Music performances
- Movies / film series
- Author readings and talks
- Historical presentations
- Marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries
- Sustainable gardening
- Environmental protection
- Wildlife protection and observation
- Coastal resiliency
- Creative writing and literature
- Nutrition, health, and wellness
The Friends will use this guidance to schedule and arrange future activities.