Book Moving Event October 21-23

In preparation for the Fishers Island Library’s front room renovation scheduled to begin the last week in October, all the books needed to be moved! This effort was championed by Library Board members Jon Britt, Karen Goodwin, Ace Ahrens and Gordon Murphy with President Sheila Kennedy.

The questions were, how to move over 6,000 books and where to store them? The solution to the ‘how’ was found with the help of Fishers Island School’s Principal and Superintendent Karen Goodwin and her 19 volunteer students. The solution to the ‘where’ came from Rev. Michael Spencer and the Vestry of St. John’s Church.

Despite the rain the evening of October 21, the plans went forward. Library Director Ann Banks explained how to label the boxes so the books would be ready to be restocked on the new shelves when the construction is complete. As volunteers Susie Brinkerhoff, Cookie Edwards and Library Program Director Amy Harris put 200 boxes together with Sheila, the students packed and labeled the boxes.

Once the shelves were cleared, the students and volunteers Rob Goodwin and Dirk Harris with Gordon and Ace, carried the boxes to St. John’s Church across the street. The rain finally came down too hard to finish the move, but 95 boxes were set in the pews. The remaining full boxes were moved to the Library’s front room, ready to be transported to their winter home.

The students enjoyed well-earned snacks before some caught the 7PM ferry. Karen took a moment to share with them how proud she was for their willingness to volunteer, and as Sheila thanked them all she also told mentioned how much their hard work is appreciated by the Library and the community.

As luck would have it, a sunny Sunday morning arrived – along with a number of volunteer members of the Fishers Island Fire Department including Bruce Hubert, Joe Brock, JR Edwards, Greg Cypherd with Dirk and Ace. Together with Courtney Allan, and Jim and Cailyn, this team moved over 100 more boxes of books to the church and completed the task!

A huge thank you to Rev. Michael Spencer and the Vestry at St. John’s Church for permitting the book storage in the Sanctuary as well as all the volunteers and the Fishers Island School.

Fishers Island School’s student volunteers included: Meg Allen, Thad Allen, Isabella Basile, Lydia Doucette, Jackson Eastman, Nicholas Hall, Arabella Hatfield, Nick Klimczak, Devin Kucscera, Hunter Kucsera, Mitchell Kucsera, Ellanora Lerner, Brooklyn Redo, Charlie Snyder, Ian Tirabassi, Caroline Toldo, Christina Toldo, Constance Toldo, and Fredrick Toldo.

Photos by Jane Ahrens