Food for Fines

By Elizabeth Totten

(Canastota, NY) Recent months have seen area residents laid off or out of work as companies struggle with losses and impending closures. The Canastota Public Library does offer help in the way of researching job options, providing entertainment by borrowing books, movies and magazines. The library also has many books on different topics that may help in times of financial crisis including books on financial planning and saving money!

At the library, there is now more that we can do to help local families and individuals in need. During the months of November and December, the Canastota Public Library will be accepting non-perishable food items in place of regular library fines. If you return an item to the library which has a late fee attached to it, please feel free to offer a food donation commensurate with the fine charged. For example, if a patron owes $2.00 for a late DVD charge, an acceptable food donation might be a $2.00 box of rice. If several books are overdue, an acceptable donation might be a can of soup or vegetables. The library can only accept Food for Fines for Canastota Public Library items and not for items that have been borrowed from other area libraries!

This Food For Fines program will not only help patrons who might be a bit late returning items to the library, but it will help those in need in our community. The non-perishable food items will be donated to The Opportunity Shop in Canastota to help keep their shelves stocked during this coming holiday season.

Food for Fines

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