why the Christmas Tree?

if you've been in the library in the last week, you may have noticed the Christmas tree on the top floor... we haven't had a tree in years past for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we have been preoccupied with the winter reading programs and figured that, maybe, adults don't care about these things like the children do.



but this year, the staff and i wanted to do something for our community. we recently learned that the demand on our food bank has been steadily growing. according to Buck Horton with the food bank, the Idaho Falls Community Food Bank:

• served 20,200 people in the month of November


• distributed 760 boxes of food


• supply food to 700 families a month

and the Idaho Foodbank reports that:

• 16.3% of all Idahoans live in food-insecure households. That is, about 198,000 Idahoans – 88,000 of them children – are concerned about their food supply and have adjusted household food management, including reducing the quality of diets. Another 60,000 or 5.0% live in households in which at least one member is hungry.


• an average of 60,663 (11.4%) Idaho families are worried they could not afford to buy food between 2005 and 2007... and these numbers are rising

so the ornaments on our library Christmas tree are thank you cards; and with your donation of canned/non-perishable food, we want you to take an ornament. we have high hopes that the food will pile up under the tree and all of the ornaments will be gone by Christmas.

please help us to make sure our neighbors don't go hungry this winter!