Join the MARY JACOBS LIBRARY TEAM for the annual RUN WITH ROTARY

Sunday, April 28

Simply go to: runwithrotary.org and register. Be sure to put “Mary Jacobs Library” in the Team Name field.

To order your $20 “I still get carded.” technical t-shirt, contact Karen Lucht at: istillgetcarded2013@gmail.com or 908.874.0435 with order details. T-Shirt Orders must be placed by April 14.

Any person of any age, walk or run, is encouraged to join. Participate in the      1-mile Ramble at 10am. or the 5k at 10:35am.

Do something good for yourself and your local library!

*T-SHIRTS CAN BE PICKED UP SATURDAY APRIL 27 AT THE LIBRARY FROM 10am – 12pm

OR THE DAY OF THE RACE AT THE MJL TABLE

Click here to download the T-Shirt order form.

Just before the New Year the Friends of the Mary Jacobs Memorial Library donated $25,000 to the MJML Foundation. While Somerset County provides library employees and lending materials to MJL, the Foundation  – a non-profit that owns the building – must cover all physical plant, operating, and maintenance expenses. The Friends of the Library is a generous group of individuals that further enhances the resources and program support at the Library. While the Friends are famous for organizing the annual Food and Wine event, they extend their support throughout the year by offering program support for adult, teen, and youth services. The Friends have also supplied tangible resources such as a portable projector, wireless PA system, canopy for outdoor programs, outside lighting, shelving units, tables, and other items on the Library’s “Wish List.”

Because the Mary Jacobs Library Foundation is a non-profit, community support is essential to the Library. To make an online donation to the Library, go to www.preservemaryjacobslibrary.com OR contact Development Coordinator, Liza Calisesi at (609) 924-7073 / liza.mjlfoundation@gmail.com.

**Photo (L-R) Cindy Mangel – MJL Branch Director; Brenda Fallon – Trustee; Wendy Rayner – Trustee and Friends member; Liza Calisesi – Development Coordinator

Join Us to Learn How You Can Help Preserve MJL

Join us on January [date tbd] at 7:00pm for the Preserve Mary Jacobs Library Volunteer meeting.

We will meet in the second floor meeting room at the library.

64 Washington St.

Rocky Hill, NJ 08553

609-924-7073

A special thanks to Karen Lucht for organizing our team and t-shirts for this year.  The shirts grabbed lots of attention and many requests.  Keep an eye out here for updates as to availability.

The Library’s beautiful building and grounds are owned and supported by the non-profit Mary Jacobs Memorial Library Foundation, not by a local or county government.

Community support helps the Foundation to continue to provide a home for all the materials and services your have enjoyed all year, right here in our community.  A generous year-end donation to our Annual Fundraising Drive could be just the gift we need to reach our 2011 goal!

To donate with a credit card, please use the Pay-Pal link to the right.  Or send your check to the address below:

Friends of Mary Jacobs Memorial Library proudly announce that its Sixth Annual Food and Wine tasting will take place at the Library on Saturday evening, November 12,2011 from 7:00PM to 10:00PM.

This year’s event will highlight foods and wines from France. Chef Valerie will be back to prepare a sumptuous feast for our guests; and Steele’s Wine Cellar, in conjunction with NYC’s Monsieur Touton will select the wines.

The Mojo Gypsies will perform for everyone’s enjoyment. The evening will be capped off by the very popular Silent Auction. This event is the facility’s main fundraiser of the year.

Funds raised from the event assist in maintaining the building and grounds of the Library which services Montgomery and Rocky Hill. Tickets are $75 each.

For more information contact us at MJLFoundation@gmail.com or call George Jarvis at 347-385-5578.

Just RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111803245569377

The contest is another attempt to raise awareness in the community that the library is in need of financial support to keep its doors open.

Ms. Merchant, whose winning design was selected out of more than 140 entries, has lived in Rocky Hill for nearly 20 years. They chose Rocky Hill because of its proximity to her husband’s work and the quality of the schools in the area.

”I’m from Mumbai, but I can’t say that word because I left when it was called Bombay,” she said.

Ms. Merchant came to the United States not having ever touched a computer, but studied both 2-d and 3-d design at Mercer County Community College.

”I taught myself Web design as well, thanks to all the books in this library, so they were my main source of information,” she said.

After having worked for an ad agency, she now mostly does projects for friends, work that primarily related to Indian classical dance called Arangetram. Cermonies are generally held before the recital, which is generally a solo performance. She creates invitations, brochures, photo books and e-cards.

”I do a lot of work for that,” she said, as well as having created and hosting her son’s violin teacher’s website.

Her inspiration for the color selection of the design, orange and gold, comes from Rocky Hill itself.

”In the summer, Rocky Hill is full of these beautiful daylilies, and this whole area is full of orange and green,” Ms. Merchant said. “After the dreary winter with all of the snow, I thought it would perk things up a little bit.”

”I have always loved reading, but in India we pay to borrow the books,” she said. “Nothing is free. Over here we pay through taxes. Everybody pays that lump sum, while in India you generally are members of library and you can borrow books.”

”It’s unbelievable how much of a boon this library is,” said Ms. Merchant, who has often sought out books related to her field. “And if the Internet is down at home, we come to the library and use them.”

Her mother-in-law came for a three-month stay when her son was born and made use of the library’s resources as well.

”She was so excited to see all of the Audrey Hepburn movies over here,” she said. “She said she saw around 100 movies in three months time. She always remembers that.”

Ms. Merchant explained that her mother-in-law lives in the suburban area of Mumbai and does not have the same access to movies, leaving her to create her own collection – in which she approximates the titles close to 1,000. She relished her access to the Mary Jacobs Library during her stay.

”This library has been so good to us,” said Ms. Merchant. “This is so convenient. We live five minutes away.”

”What I want to do is give to the library,” said Ms. Merchant. And she will do just that, using her $100 prize to purchase shirts for her family and friends.More of Ms. Merchant’s designs can be seen on her blog at darshanadesigns.blogspot.com.

The T-shirts will be on sale in a few weeks and will also be worn by the library team participating in the Run with Rotary, scheduled for May 1.

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2011/02/28/the_princeton_packet/news/doc4d6c24ff052e1517243690.txt