Friends of Smyrna Library Announce New Teen Volunteer Program

Summer break is fast approaching and the Friends of Smyrna Library (FOSL) need teen volunteers! We are starting a new teen volunteer program that will have both regular volunteer opportunities and volunteer LEADERSHIP opportunities over the summer and into December. 

Leadership opportunities start with rising 9th graders and 6th to 8th graders can also volunteer for non-leadership roles.  Adult FOSL volunteers will supervise all events and children who volunteer will be setup for success and get meaningful and well organized community service assignments.  

We need teen volunteers to help with:

• Sort and organize books for ten upcoming “pop-up” sales in the library lobby. (60 to 90 minutes for each sorting)

• Organize books for 2 book sales at Keep Smyrna Beautiful’s Smyrna Outdoor Market. (60 to 90 minutes)

• Setup and work book sale tent at Keep Smyrna Beautiful’s Saturday Smyrna Outdoor Market (7:30 am to 10 am) once scheduled. (1 shift leader volunteer opportunity)

• Work book sale tent and close up sale at Keep Smyrna Beautiful’s Smyrna Outdoor Market (10:00 am to 12: 30 pm) once scheduled.  (1 shift leader volunteer opportunity)

• Support the Summer Ice Cream Social on a Sunday in August (event being planned, volunteer needs TBD, shift leader opportunities will be available).

• Multiple book sorting and book pricing events from August to October in advance of the Fall Jonquil Festival Book Sale.  NOTE: The better the books are sorted and priced the more money we make to pay for great programs like last Saturday’s KID*CON. This is a VERY important volunteer contribution. 

• Lead the First Sunday Lecture Series meeting room setup/breakdown and take event photos (2:30 pm to 4:30 pm on the first Sunday of each month.)

• Computer help (must come to the library): Create a Jonquil Festival Book Sale “How To” Book. (multiple meetings)

• Computer help (must come to the library): Convert old Google Picassa Photo Albums to Google Photos Albums (multiple meetings)

• FOSL Storage Area Cleanup: We will need 10+ volunteers to pull everything out of our various storage areas in the library and reorganize them.  2 events TBD for 90 minutes each.  Shift leader volunteer opportunities available.

• Volunteer for Fall Jonquil Festival Book Sale (2.5 hour shifts SAT 8 am to 7 pm, SUN 10:30 am to 6:30 pm during festival).  Nine shift leader volunteer opportunities. 36 other teen volunteer opportunities.

• Support the December “Evening with the Friends” annual holiday party (event being planned, volunteer needs TBD, multiple shift leader opportunities will be available).

• Official FOSL Instagrammer for one month!  Become our official teen Instagrammer for one month assignments beginning in June, 2019. One parent/guardian will need to meet with a FOSL representative for the teen’s interview for this social media opportunity.

Parents/Teens: For more information please like this post or message our page directly and we’ll follow-up with you with upcoming meeting details.  THANK YOU for supporting our wonderful Smyrna Public Library and engaging your children in high-impact community service!

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UPDATE:  Please email you contact info to foslvols@gmail.com and we will follow-up over the weekend. Thank you.

Successful Kid*Con Held Today at the Smyrna Community Center

Hundreds of kids and parents attended today’s Kid*Con at the Smyrna Community Center. It was a wonderful event! We have a lot of people to recognize and thank so enjoy the rest of this post and all of the photos!

THANK YOU, Smyrna Public Library Staff! You did an amazing job planning out fun, and what seemed like endless, craft, game and STEAM activities for the kids that aligned with children’s literature. The activity tables filled the entire gymnasium in the Smyrna Community Center. The photos in this post of all of the tables/activities listed below will help you understand how well done the event was.

Activity Stations: Autograph Book, Build with Iggy Peck Architect, Character Bookmarks, Code Cracking, Coloring Station, Dance Party, Dr. Seuss Cootie Catcher, Draw Fly Guy, Going on a Brown Bear Hunt, Harry Potter Wand, Lego Station, Lightsaber Pencil, Make a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree, Paper Airplane Engineering, Scary Slime, Selfie Booth, Storybook Matching, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Necklace

THANK YOU, Volunteers! It took a small army to staff all of the activity stations, dress-up in costume and perform for the families and to also serve the food and treats. You did a fantastic job and we sincerely appreciate your volunteer spirit today.

THANK YOU, Activity Partners. The kids REALLY enjoyed the activity stations staffed by Jitterbug Performing Arts, Keep Smyrna Beautiful, MusicTogether Metro Atlanta, Rock Painting by #SmyrnaGARocks, Smyrna Police K9-Unit, Star Wars 501st Legion of Atlanta and STEAMbug.

THANK YOU, Local Restaurant Donors. Your food was DELICIOUS and your donations made our event even more special! Dairy Queen (Spring Road) served Beef Hot Dogs. McEntyre's Bakery provided a sugar cookie decorating station. Bella's Pizzeria provided assorted Ham/Pepperoni/Salami & Mozzarella “knotwiches” and Zucca Pizzeria delivered Cheese Pizza. In addition to being the lead funding sponsor for the event, The Friends of Smyrna Library also provided popsicles, water and slap-wrist rulers.

THANK YOU, Smyrna Parks & Recreation. Your team did an AWESOME job setting up the facility and the kids loved the popcorn machine you let us use.

Mixed Media by Shelly Leitheiser Opens in Smyrna Public Library Art Gallery

The May/June 2019 Art Gallery exhibit has opened – Mixed Media by Shelly Leitheiser.  The exhibit is on display through June 30. The Art Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the Smyrna Public Library.

Art Gallery exhibits are organized by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Artist Statement

I have painted since I was very young and always knew I wanted to be an artist. After college I moved to San Francisco, then back to Minnesota, and now I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been in many solo and group art shows along the way. Currently doing shows and art fairs in the Atlanta, GA area. I don't pursue brick and mortar galleries because I believe the future of art buying is online galleries and in person sales at art fairs. I do a few art fairs every summer to promote my art and find out what the public is feeling about art.

Shadowboxes by Stephen A. Webber Opens in Smyrna Public Library Display Gallery

The May to August 2019 Display Gallery exhibit has opened – Shadowboxes by Stephen A. Webber.  The exhibit is on display through August 31. The Display Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the Smyrna Public Library.

Display Gallery exhibits are organized by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Artist Statement

A mostly self taught artist, Webber grew up in Ravenswood housing Projects, Long Island City, Queens, New York. He first became fascinated with art while watching his mother draw brilliantly colored cartoons on torn brown bags. He attended and graduated from the High School of Art and Design in New York city.

One of the wonderful things about Webber's works is his refusal to view the 'ways of black folk' as something 'dirty' or a thing that must be concealed from the rest of the world. By shifting his focus toward what makes African Americans similar as opposed to different from other races, Webber captures the inherent humility found in a people, as they simply live out their day to day existence. Through the use of his dynamic technique, simple ordinary folk are elevated into the supreme by their experience. Within these experiences, we are allowed to witness their true completeness, due in part to his desire to show not only their joy but also their pain. Webber's work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States.

The artist now resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Summer Reading Program Sign-up Begins on May 24

The Summer Reading Sign-up will be held on Friday, May 24 from 10:00am-5:00pm in the Smyrna Library. 

Stop by the Youth Services desk to register and complete a "Make and Take" craft to celebrate “A Universe of Stories.”

The Summer Reading Program is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library. 

Book Donations Requested

We are planning 2 new FUN events this summer and need 500+ specific types of donated books - Cookbooks, Gardening Books and under age 10 Children’s Classics Hardbacks (Dr. Seuss, Peanuts, Clifford, Disney, Winnie, Sesame Street, etc.) You can make your donation at the Circulation Desk during normal library hours. 

Spring Jonquil Festival Book Sale Concludes

THANK YOU, Jonquil Festival Shoppers and Friends of Smyrna Library Volunteers!!!

We raised $1,800 this weekend at the annual Spring Jonquil Festival Book Sale. The proceeds from this sale, last fall’s Jonquil Festival Book Sale and several pop-up book sales in between complete our fundraising to support the 2019 Summer Reading Program for Kids, Teens/Young Adults and Adults.