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Help Us Renovate & Expand Our Children’s Library!

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Give a gift that will last for generations…donate today to help fund our Children’s Library Renovation Project! We are grateful to a generous donor (who wishes to remain anonymous) who paid a significant portion of the construction bill. However, we still need to raise $57,000 to furnish the new space! Please consider contributing. Your gift will benefit local children for generations to come.

Click here to give now.

There are three easy and secure ways to give:

Online: Click here or on the PayPal button below to give. Please select Help Us Renovate Our Children’s Library from the Use this donation for menu.

At the library: Speak with a staff member at the desk and donate cash or by check.

By mail: Send your check, payable to ELANCO Library, to: Eastern Lancaster County Library, 11 Chestnut Drive, New Holland, PA 17557. Please note Children’s Library Renovation in the memo line.

Note: If ELANCO Library exceeds our fundraising goal of $57,000, funds in excess of $57,000 will be applied towards general library operating expenses.

Thank you for your support!

Why Donate? (Support ELANCO Library’s Operational Campaign 2023!)

Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation. – Walter Cronkite
A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. – Henry Ward Beecher

Dear Friends,

ELANCO Library saved our users well over four million dollars in 2022 alone. That’s right, you saved $4,369,322 simply by checking out books, audiobooks, DVDs, and other items from the library last year!

We’re reaching out to our patrons in Caernarvon, Earl, East Earl, New Holland, and Terre Hill to ask for your financial support, so that we can continue to provide such great value to our community. Our operating budget (just our very frugal basic costs to keep the doors open) far exceeds the funding we receive from local and state government, requiring us to fundraise two-thirds of our expenses every year.

ELANCO Library has served the community since 1933, and our goal this year is to meet our operating costs, and then, hopefully, proceed with a renovation of our children’s library.

Some interesting facts you may not know about the services the library provided in 2022 are that we:

Supplied 132,789 books, eBooks, and audiobooks to our patrons
Registered 611 new library cardholders
Offered 300 In-person programs and 13 online programs (including some very exciting guest speakers), with 7,199 participating
Prevented summer learning loss in the 1,203 children who participated in our Summer Reading Program
Provided access to the library’s public computers for a total of 2,005 hours
Connected 3,404 unique devices to our free Wi-Fi network
Added special new items to our lending collection, including STEM Kits, art and music study kits, and more.

Can we count on you to donate (no amount too small or too large) to ELANCO Library’s Operational Campaign ‘23?

Your contribution will allow the library to continue our vision to be a highly valued, inclusive community resource for education, empowerment, enlightenment, enrichment, and entertainment.

You can donate online via this link or mail your check to Eastern Lancaster County Library, 11 Chestnut Drive, New Holland, PA, 17557.

If you have questions or would like further information on how to support the library, please contact me at 717-354-0525 or sburke309@comcast.net.

Sincerely,

Susan D. Burke

ELANCO Library Board of Trustees President

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert. – Andrew Carnegie
The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library. – Albert Einstein
The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man. – T.S. Eliot
Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one. – Neil Gaiman
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

Leave a Legacy

Thank you for considering a planned gift to the Eastern Lancaster County Library. Your thoughtful inclusion of the library in your estate plans will help ensure that the library’s vital programs and services continue for future generations.

The Eastern Lancaster County Library Endowment Fund provides a stable source of long-term funding to ensure the library can fulfill its mission to provide free access to information, education, technology, services, and entertainment to our community. As a private, not-for-profit, and largely self-supporting institution, we rely on our endowment fund as a foundation to our financial security. It is therefore important to us to ensure that our endowment is both well-managed and secure. The Lancaster County Community Foundation’s Organizational Endowment Fund provides us with a vehicle to achieve both objectives. Your contributions to the Eastern Lancaster County Library Endowment Fund will become a perpetual gift to your community’s Library.

We also invite you to consider other types of planned gifts, such as those listed below. Planned gifts sometimes provide valuable tax benefits, and they help ensure the library’s continued existence and excellence for years and generations to come.

Bequests through Wills or Trust
Charitable Gift Annuity
Charitable Remainder Trust
IRA Distributions (sometimes called IRA charitable rollover or qualified charitable distribution, QCD)
Retirement Plan Assets

To learn more or share your giving intentions, please contact Susan D. Burke, President, ELANCO Library Board of Trustees, at sburke309@comcast.net or 717-354-0525.

Amazon Wishlist

Support the ELANCO Library by purchasing an item from our Amazon Charity Wishlist! Municipal and state funding covers only 40% of our annual budget. We are responsible for raising the other 60%. Purchasing an item from this list helps stretch our dollars farther! We have books, office supplies, craft supplies, and other items on our list.

Got Books?

Please note: Beginning on December 2, 2023, book donations will temporarily no longer be accepted! This is due to space limitations during construction for the renovation and expansion of the Children’s Library. Book donations will again be gratefully received in late Spring 2024. Please check back for updates.

The Friends of the Library hold book sales several times a year. The Eastern Lancaster County Library accepts the following donations:

New or gently-used books, paperback or hardcover
Children’s books – hardcover books or paperbacks, in very good condition (not written in or torn)
Audiobooks on CD, preferably unabridged
Music CDs – popular and classical titles
Movies on DVD or Blu-ray

We cannot accept textbooks, encyclopedias, old magazines, newspapers, Readers Digest condensed books, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, yearbooks, computer software, or any items that have been stored in attics or basements for long periods of time, or items that have smoke or water damage.

Donated materials are given to the ELANCO Library without condition. Upon receipt, donations become the property of the library. We reserve all rights to determine addition to the collection or disposal. Items not added to the collection may be given to other libraries, sold to raise money to purchase other items, or given away for free.

Contribute Your Time and Talent: Get Involved

Join ELANCO Library’s Board of Trustees: Would you like to have an influence on what happens at your local library? We would love to have your input! The ELANCO Library Board of Trustees has several openings and is seeking enthusiastic and committed candidates with excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills, especially individuals with experience or education in any of the following: fundraising/development, teaching/education, homeschooling, youth services, STEM education, small business/farming, Senior Citizen engagement/aging in place; or who are parents of young children. A requirement for library board members is that they live within the library’s service area: New Holland, Terre Hill, Earl Township, East Earl Township, or Caernarvon Township; or in Upper Leacock Township. Interested persons may email a short letter, outlining your skills, experience, and interests to Anna D’Agostino, Library Director, at adagostino@elancolibrary.org or drop one off at or mail one to the library at 11 Chestnut Drive, New Holland, PA 17557. A resume may be included if you like. Click here for more information and a Trustee Recruitment Packet.

Join Friends of ELANCO Library: Friends of ELANCO Library is always seeking new members! This is a fun, informal way to get involved with the library, and you can contribute as much or as little time to the effort as you like. Friends help to organize and staff library book sales, and they prepare for sales by sorting, sorting, evaluating, categorizing, and pricing donated books dropped off at the library. The Friends also seek creative and innovative ideas for new fundraisers and ways to support ELANCO Library. Interested? Contact Andi Taylor, President, Friends of ELANCO Library, at andigtaylor@comcast.net.

Assistance with Occasional Projects: ELANCO Library is preparing to renovate our Children’s Library, and we’ll need to move everything (books, furniture, shelving, and more!) out of the library’s lower level so that contractors can complete the project. Are you willing to help with this effort? Contact Anna D’Agostino, Library Director at 717-354-0525 or adagostino@elancolibrary.org.

Your tax-deductible donation will be used to purchase books, movies, and other library materials, to purchase supplies, and to support other library activities like story time.

Every contribution, no matter how small, helps the ELANCO Library grow and thrive.

Checks may be mailed to:

Eastern Lancaster County Library
11 Chestnut Drive
New Holland, PA 17557

Donations can be made safely and securely through PayPal. You don’t need a PayPal Account to use your Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card.