CPH Friends acts as a bridge to support and connect the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library and its communities. Throughout the year, CPH Friends raises money (through member fees and events like our Used Book Sales) – the money then goes to the library for programming and infrastructure support.
How does the money we raise get spent? Some of the key programs the CPH Friends support for the Library include:
Museum Pass Program
Museum Passes, one of the programs fully supported by the Friends, continue to be a popular offering for the library, with passes circulating more than 770 times in 2024. Patrons can check out a four-pack of passes to museums, all within one to two hours of our community. The four most popular passes were for the Saratoga Children’s Museum, the Empire Pass to New York’s parks, Mass MoCA, and The Wild Center.
Speaker Visits
This past May, the Library and CPH Friends welcomed author and social media personality Mychal Threets for a large community event. The event was well-attended by the community. This and other author visits – including Ruth Reichl’s visit in 2023 – are underwritten by the CPH Friends for all to enjoy.
Library Enhancements
Not all library projects are fully covered by the budget that the community passes each year. The library also works to secure grants for projects like the EV chargers in 2023. To complete the project, the CPH Friends paid for the installation of the chargers. We also contributed to upgrades in the children’s room, the creation of the new sensory room, and other infrastructure updates like lighting – sometimes big, sometimes small, but all important to keeping our library as a cutting edge and welcoming place for everyone in our community.
As a result of support from our community for our fundraisers and membership donations in 2024, CPH Friends was able to provide over $58,000 to our library for materials and programs. Included was over $8,000 toward development of the very popular Sensory Room, which provides a comfortable space to work, read, or relax for community members who find larger or more active spaces hard to tolerate.
Want to help contribute? Join and encourage friends to do the same! You can also make a one-time donation to support the important work of the library.