A new chapter of support
Warren Library Friends replaces previous volunteer group
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WARREN -- Warren Library Friends made the right choice for its first board president with Lauren Mathews, whose support of the library is decades long.
"I was a single mother of a daughter with very little money, so the library was our movie theatre. We would borrow DVDs. It was our place to borrow music and CDs. We also borrowed books. My daughter loved to read. She still does," Mathews said.
Her daughter Allyson brought her love for reading into her career as an attorney at George Washington University in Washington.
The new nonprofit Warren Library Friends took the place of the longtime library support organization Friends of Warren Library.
"FOWL kind of fizzled out because of COVID-19," Mathews said.
The Warren-Trumbull County Public Library did not have a volunteer support group for several years, but that changed in the spring.
"The library community outreach team reached out to library patrons asking for volunteers to organize a new library friends group in April," Mathews said.
The group came together with their first meeting one month later. Officers were selected from the attendees.
"We had an establishment meeting on May 5," she said.
Members of the group are varied in age and gender, but all have a love for the library.
"I am here to support the library. I think the library is really the cornerstone of any community," Cory Weddell of Warren said.
He continued with his positive view of this public institution and his reason for supporting it.
"You want people to have the space that they can go to relax. You want people to have the space to look things up, gain knowledge. You can't really trust everything on the internet these days but you can come to the library and find a book in whatever you're interested in. I've been a reader ever since I was a little kid. It takes a lot of support to keep it going," Weddell said.
He also pointed out how fortunate the city is to have a beautiful library in Warren. Renovations in the past few years expanded the meeting spaces, children and teen areas, and created a maker's studio.
Mathews led the September meeting in a very organized, enthusiastic manner. She encouraged the officers to give their reports and for other members to voice their opinions about upcoming library events or ways to get the word out about the new nonprofit.
Jill Merola of Warren is one of several retired educators who belong to the nonprofit. She is the treasurer of Warren Library Friends.
During Tuesday's meeting, Merola mentioned the money that the nonprofit received from its ongoing book sale. Books are available for purchase in the hallway of the library door facing Mahoning Avenue
Their next volunteer and outreach opportunity is the Trumbull County Reads event on Oct. 20. All Trumbull County libraries are reading "To Slip the Bonds of Earth" by Akron author Amanda Flower.
Warren Library Friends will coordinate a meet and greet with the author prior to her talk. To attend the event, you must be a member of a Trumbull County library friends group. You can purchase a Warren Library Friends membership at the door prior to the meet and greet.
Flower's presentation is open to the public and will be livestreamed from the Cortland branch and Liberty branch of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library and the Kinsman Public Library.
Mathews' passion for the library and creative ideas to get the word out about their group came out during Tuesday's meeting.
The next gathering is at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Harding meeting room at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library.
Information to join the group is available at the library and on their social media pages. You can also sign up online at wtcpl.org/friends-of-the-library.