ASHEBORO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION, INC.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Asheboro Public Library Foundation is to effectively manage and increase the Foundation’s assets and to disburse funds responsibly for the maximum benefit to the Asheboro Public Library.
History
The Asheboro Public Library Foundation began in 1935 when nine young women met to play bridge, but instead began discussing the need for a public library in Asheboro. They formed a club to organize a library and soon the original nine (Dorothy Whitaker, Carrie Brittain, Betsy Armfield, Virginia Barker, Margaret Hammond, Alice and Dorothy Lewallen, and Elizabeth and Lucy Clyde Ross) were joined by others. They began with no money, no books, no place and no staff.
In addition to engaging in various fund raising projects, the members pulled little red wagons belonging to younger members of their households from house to house, asking for book donations from friends, family and neighbors. Four months after that first bridge game they had some funds, 384 books and two rent-free rooms above Standard Drug Company, contributed by Mrs. W.A. Underwood.
The Asheboro Public Library opened for business on February 10, 1936. In spite of a large snowfall that week, almost all 384 books were checked out on that first day.
Today, Asheboro Public Library Foundation Board of Directors accepts contributions and bequests, manages the funds and uses those funds solely to benefit the Asheboro Public Library. The foundation is a U.S. Internal Revenue Code 501 (c) (3) corporation and donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by the code.
FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES
Throughout its history, the Asheboro Public Library Foundation, Inc., has been a major benefactor of the Asheboro Public Library, making major gifts at critical moments for the purchase of land, furniture, shelving, equipment and more. As a result of a significant bequest from the estate of local music teacher Louise Swaim, the Foundation also has provided music-related books, recordings and DVDs for the library collection, and has sponsored classical and popular music concerts for the community.
Recent Foundation gifts to the library include:
Charlesanna Fox: Portrait
of a Librarian
A portrait of Charlesanna Louise Fox, director of the Randolph County Public Library from 1949-1977, now hangs in the upstairs foyer of the Asheboro library, on public display. The portrait was presented to the library by the Asheboro Public Library Foundation, Inc., the organization whose members originally founded the Asheboro Library in 1936. Formed in 1935 from a civic minded bridge club to “procure, erect, build, establish, maintain, conduct and operate one or more public libraries” in Asheboro, this organization continues to benefit the library by managing donations and bequests for library improvement.
Contact
Asheboro Public Library Foundation
P.O. Box 1601
Asheboro, N.C. 27204
Current Officers:
President: Shannon McCrary
Secretary: Donna Johnson
Treasurer: Carol Rich
