Frances Rapin Community Service Award for 2025

Debbie Reis presents Kris Onstine with the Frances Rapin Community Service AwardEach year at the Annual Meeting the Friends presents an award to a member of the community for outstanding service to our libraries, literacy, and the cause of reading. The award comes as a donation of $2,000 to the Library in the name of the award winner, who decides how the donation will be spent. This year’s award honors Kris Onstine for her many, and continuing, years supporting the Friends’ fundraising efforts through her management and coordination of our book donation activities, including the sorting and evaluating of incoming books and the training and supervising of our back room volunteers who work with them. In addition, Kris has full responsibility for the selection, listing and management of our book sales on eBay, an activity which brings in several hundred dollars a month. Kris also selects and supervises the sale of a group of specially priced better books at our quarterly book sales. We are fortunate to have someone with her knowledge and ability overseeing these activities. 

Although we don’t know how Kris will choose to have all the donation spent, she did ask that part of it be used to ensure that the Library has at least one copy, in good condition, of every book on the Banned Books List. Bravo, Kris!

Happy 25th Birthday, Serendipity!

On October 27,1999, the Serendipity Book Store, the Little Store on the Second Floor of the Eureka Library, opened its doors for the first time. Since then, the store has raised more than $625,000 to support the needs and programs of the Humboldt County Library System. We are grateful to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors for honoring the Friends of the Redwood Libraries on this occasion.

You can read the Times-Standard article “The Little Store on the Second Floor,” by Heather Shelton from 10/20/24 by clicking here.

Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Resolution honoring Serendipity Bookstore

Frances Allen Rapin, 1920-2024

Frances Allen RapinIt is with sadness but many fond memories that we report the passing of Frances Rapin, former President and longtime Director of the Friends of the Redwood Libraries, at the age of 103. Frances remained an active volunteer until almost the age of 100, coming in to help with various tasks in the back room every week.

During her time as President, she was the spark behind the creation of our Serendipity Book Store. Over the course of her service she was honored by the Humboldt Library Foundation with its Helen Everett Award and also by FRL with our Community Service Award, which now bears her name. Her many contributions to the Friends over the years will be remembered with gratitude.

The Gray Bird Sings at the Annual Meeting

A small but appreciative audience was treated to a fascinating glimpse into The Extraordinary Life of Betty Kwan Chinn when Betty and her biographer Karen Price were our guests for this year’s Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Redwood Libraries on June 22. Members were able to acquire autographed copies Karen Price and Betty Chinnof Karen’s book, The Gray Bird Sings, and discuss it and ask questions of Betty.

Prior to the program a brief business meeting was held to conduct the election of officers for the coming year. President Debbie Reis conducted the election and introduced new and continuing officers and board members and thanked outgoing a board members for their service.

Following the business meeting Library Director Chris Cooper reported on the State of the Library, stressing new programs that are being created, new staff recruitment, and infrastructure upgrades, including those for ADA compliance.

Debbie presents Frances Rapin award to Ronda WittenbergPresident Debbie Reis presented the 2024 Frances Rapin Community Service Award to recently retired staff members Ronda Wittenberg and Michael Logan, who between them provided 89 years of service to Library patrons. Michael was unable to attend, but he and Ronda will work with the Library to decide how the $2,000 will be spent.

Following the program, delicious refreshments were enjoyed by all.

Annual Holiday Luncheon Honors Michael Logan and Ronda Wittenberg

At last the Friends of the Redwood Libraries resumed their annual Holiday luncheon, this time in the meeting room of the Eureka Library. The food, catered by Cassaro’s Catering, was delicious.Michael Logan and Ronda Wittenberg

Michael Logan and Ronda Wittenberg were our guests of honor. Both retired in 2023. We thanked them for their service, totaling 89 years! They were each given a Life Membership in the Friends of the Redwood Libraries.

The Luncheon was followed by a fantastic performance from the McKinleyville Community Choir under the direction of Jon Reisdorf and Steve Lewis with accompanist Steven Reis. The luncheon was a great success.

Thank you to Stephanie Hillman for organizing, and Willa Mauro for decorating.

October Book Sale a Huge Success!

The October 2023 book sale raised over $4,000 for the Library. This was our largest sale to date. Our next sale is January 26th (members only) and 27th (everyone welcome). Hope to see you there!

With the hard work and dedication of the volunteers, plus the support of our members and customers, the Friends of the Redwood Libraries has been able to present to the Humboldt County Library $19,292.00 this year. This amount comes from the proceeds from the sale of books through the Serendipity Book Store, our quarterly book sales, and our internet book sales. Another contribution to this amount has come from the sales of the Children’s Art Calendar.

FRL Frances Rapin Community Service Award for 2023

James Cech presenting Martha Longshore with the Frances Rapin Community Service Award.Friends of the Redwood Libraries’ (FRL) Frances Rapin Community Service Award is granted yearly in the name of a local resident deemed to have contributed extraordinarily to the local community in support of literacy, literature, educational programs, libraries and the “Friends.” The award is a $2,000 contribution to the Humboldt County Libraries in the awardee’s name. The award winner is encouraged to offer guidance to the library in how the funds will be used.

Having no advertising budget, FRL is challenged to inform the community about its activities. Quarterly newsletters are sent out, but these go only to members. To reach the greater community FRL relies on its website to spread word of its activities including book sales, calendar sales, operating hours of Serendipity, book donation policies, and access to online sales. Given its importance, an up-to-date web presence is critical. And FRL has been extremely fortunate to have the generous support of a highly talented web master.

Martha Longshore, a published author, has assisted FRL with her expertise for numerous years. She willingly takes semi-cryptic requests and converts them to coherent news updates. She readily adjusts web page menus at the whim of the FRL board. She updates sales dates, happily removing old ones to replace with new ones as soon as requested. She keeps policy document links up to date and has efficiently worked with FRL through the myriad of changes in operations, practices, availability, and open hours through the challenges of the Covid pandemic. For these reasons, for 2023, the FRL board of directors chose Martha Longshore to receive the Frances Rapin Community Service Award.

By James Cech

2023 Annual Meeting June 24th

Mark your calendars! FRL will hold its Annual Meeting in person on June 24, 2023 at 1:30 in the downstairs meeting room of the Humboldt County main branch library in Eureka.

Join us for: election of board members, presentation of the Frances Rapin Community Service Award, insight from authors, and light refreshments.

Serendipity Bookstore Reopens!

FRL announces the reopening of Serendipity Book Store on the second floor of the library. After more than a year of closure, followed by almost of year of temporary sales downstairs on the weekend only, Serendipity is once again operating in its second floor location.

Current hours are:

Tuesday 12-4:30
Wednesday 12-7:30
Thursday 12-4:30
Friday 10-4:30
Saturday 11-3:30.

Come into the store to find some of the best donated books and media FRL has to offer. And the prices can’t be beat. Operating hours may change so check the Serendipity Bookstore page on this website for updates.

FRL Frances Rapin Community Service Award for 2022

The Friends of the Redwood Libraries Board of Directors is pleased to honor a long-time volunteer, Kay Belschner, with the 2022 Frances Rapin Community Service Award. Each year FRL honors an individual or organization that supports directly or indirectly literary activities in the community.

The board selected Ms. Belschner as a way to thank and honor her for innumerable hours dedicated to FRL efforts to support the Humboldt County Libraries. Even prior to the board’s creation of an official book sale coordinator, Ms. Belschner was the point person responsible for organizing the volunteer team that set up, carried out, and cleaned up each of the quarterly book sales. Until recently, this included two very distinct spaces at the Eureka Main Library. It meant recruiting sufficient volunteers for two different setup days, two two-day sales teams, and two cleanup teams. But there was more than just organizing the books. FRL rosters had to be procured, cash boxes in place, signage produced, posters organized, and general publicity. Volunteers assisted in all of these various tasks, Chris Cooper (L) Director of Library Services, accepts a check for $2,000 from Kay Belschner, recipient of the 2022 Frances Rapin Community Service Award. Kay and the Library Staff will decide how the money will be used. James Cech (R), President of FRL, explained how much Kay has done for the Library and the Friends, and presented her with a certificate and the check for the Library.but someone must always oversee, encourage, and make sure everything is done.

If you attended any FRL quarterly book sale during the past seven or more years, you almost assuredly saw Ms. Belschner. She would spend most of two days each sale watching the sale unfold, restocking boxes of books, fielding questions, covering for emergencies, and ensuring that everything ran as smoothly as possible. Holding sales quarterly also means uncertainty related to weather. Flexibility was critical, and Ms. Belschner was adept at adopting modifications as needed on the fly.

From the Friends of the Redwood Libraries Board of Directors perspective, Herculean efforts to keep our book sales organized and productive represent an essential community service. This is why we are thrilled to honor Kay Belschner with the 2022 Frances Rapin Community Service Award.