FOLL was honored to receive the 2024 Business Excellence Award for Service Organization of the Year at the Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce dinner held on February 7. Thank you to all who voted for FOLL.

Attendance at our annual membership meetings continues to grow with 34 FOLL members attending this year. The meeting held on November 23 included presentations by Library Director, Kathryn Hunt and Treasurer, Gloria Pilotti. All enjoyed lunch and an informative and entertaining presentation by Joan M. Griffin, author of Force of Nature, a book about three women who tackled the John Muir Trail.

Family Art Night was a hit with our community with over 700 attendees. This FOLL-sponsored event offered art projects for all ages, face painting, caricature drawings, music and a free pizza dinner.

At FOLL’s September Board meeting, Chris Knutson and Eric Kurland from the Lincoln Community Foundation surprised FOLL with a check for Family Movie Night. This popular Lincoln Public Library program offers families a free movie-like experience on the third Saturday of each month. Thank you, Lincoln Community Foundation. And, thank you, to our FOLL Grant Director, Neil Cochran (also pictured) for his work in requesting the grant.

As children grow, nonfiction becomes the foundation of their background knowledge and, ultimately, a compass for defining their interests, pursuits, and goals. With the Lincoln Rotary Club Foundation’s help, the Lincoln Public Library is able to keep its children’s nonfiction collection filled with current and engaging material. Thank you, Rotary Club of Lincoln for your continued commitment to support children’s reading with this much appreciated grant to FOLL.

Over the past twelve months, FOLL provided over $16,000 to expand the Lincoln Public Library’s physical collection and over $19,000 for the online services – Hoopla and Kanopy. To the library’s physical collection, FOLL added large print books, audio books on CD, travel guide books, NOLO law books, nonfiction for seniors and children, and magazines for teens and children. We also helped support the library’s popular Zip Program. All with the help of your FOLL memberships and donations. And, of course, the generous support of the Lincoln Hills Foundation, Lincoln Rotary Club Foundation, and SCLH Orchard Creek Book Group.

The June BIG Book Sale was a great success raising $2,546 from the sale of books, DVDs, music CDs and puzzles. Your purchases will go a long way to help us meet our funding goals for the year.

The Lincoln Public Library is the place for teens and pre-teens to enjoy activities especially designed for them. Whether it is the annual Battle of the Books or a “pop up” event, such as the “Taylor Swift Blackout Poetry & Bracelet Making Party” or YOU ROCK” rock painting,” library staff continue to come up with new ideas to bring teens and pre-teens to the library. FOLL is glad to provide the financial support for these events.

Thank you to the 116 donors who gave during our Big Day of Giving campaign. We sincerely appreciate your support and look forward to helping the Lincoln Public Library provide the many library programs and services that will be available to our community due to your generosity. Again, thank you.

With the help of funding from FOLL, the Lincoln Public Library has added a seed library where patrons can pick up herb, vegetable or flower seed for their gardens. FOLL purchased a display case for gardening books, additional gardening books for the library’s collection, and of course, lots of seeds.