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Roy teens work to save city library

Fundraiser: Students wash cars, go door to door

BRIAN SANDFORD; The Olympian | • Published October 14, 2009

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ROY - When a group of teens in the Roy area learned that the city library was set to close because of a budget shortfall, they sprang into action to keep the popular after-school hangout open.

City librarian Cecelia Hanson said she learned in early September that the library would close that month, then broke the news to schoolchildren who frequently gather there.

Within two days, the teens had arranged to place donation boxes at area businesses and had approached Mayor Karen Yates to discuss ways to keep the library open.

The donation boxes and a two-day car wash during the Roy Pioneer Rodeo raised nearly $600, and the library has remained open through September and October, Hanson said. Its funding shortfall, however, will continue until January, when a new budget cycle takes effect, Yates said.

Yates said the library serves an important purpose in Roy, which doesn’t have public transportation and is fairly isolated, partly because of its proximity to the sprawling Fort Lewis.

“In the downtown core, we have a lot of people who do not have computers,” she said. “We have adults who use those computers in the afternoon to log on and do their required job searching for unemployment.”

The Roy library functions differently from most in South Sound. It briefly was part of the Pierce County Library System, but Roy was deemed too small to justify having its own library, and the branch was closed.

“After that, we went back to having our own little city library,” Yates said. The library now is funded by the city and is open Tuesdays through Thursdays.

Katie Davis, 14, a Cougar Mountain Junior High School student, was among the teens who took action to keep the library open.

“The librarian had mentioned to us that it was going to close ... it took two days to let it sink in because we were shocked,” she said. “Me and my sister went around and gathered a bunch of friends. ... We did car washes, went door to door; we were telling everybody what the situation was with the library.”

Her sisters Tawny, 15, and Alaysha, 16, also helped raise money. Their mother, Darcy, said they have a computer at home, “but one is not enough for three teenage girls.”

“There’s not much to do here; there’s no skating rinks and movie theaters,” Darcy Davis said. “The library is it for these kids. I feel very safe when my kids are there.”

Brian Sandford: 360-754-5425

bsandford@theolympian.com