Altamont Library Notes for Thursday, February 15, 2018

Another gala is in the books! I have to extend a huge thank-you to everyone who attended the 11th annual I Love My Library! Gala Saturday night. I hope everyone had as fantastic a time as I did.

Many, many people contributed to the success of the event, but a by no means exhaustive list would include Linda Cure, Robin Love, Meghan Connelly, Yvette Terplak, Steve Terplak, Pat Spohr, Sharon Forman, Michelle Stevens, Lorraine Swintek, Vicki Vattimo, Christine Carpenter, Ron Ginsburg, and Mike Seinberg, among many, many others.

I’d also like to thank the many donors of auction items, appetizers, and desserts; the great volunteers who kept everything running smoothly; and Bela Fleur and Elegant Touch Catering for their phenomenal work.

Finally, many thanks are due to our honorees for the evening, Marijo Dougherty and Sally Dauge, for all their contributions to the community over the years. Thank you all for your time, energy and creativity.

Marijo Dougherty Fund

At Saturday night’s gala, I was pleased to announce the formation of the Marijo Dougherty Fund. The purpose of this fund is to work on projects that preserve the history of our community for future generations.

Our first project is the establishment of an oral history collection, which will be known as the Marijo Dougherty Oral History Collection, and which will seek to record and preserve the stories and memories of our community members through recorded interviews. Our first interview has already been completed and, appropriately enough, the subject is Marijo herself. I look forward to sharing that fantastic interview, conducted by Laura Shore, with you soon.

For anyone interested in contributing to this fund, we have received a pledge from an anonymous donor to match your contribution dollar for dollar. Please get in touch with me by email at or by phone at 518-861-7239 for more details about the fund.

Social Security workshop

Have you been thinking about retirement? Are you unsure of how to maximize your income in your golden years? Do you have questions about Social Security?

If so, please join us at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, for a free public information workshop called “Making the Most of Social Security.” This workshop is designed to help people ages 45 to 75 better understand their Social Security retirement benefits and what they may be entitled to.

Our presenter, John Kalil, is a volunteer from Retirement Solutions, an office of MetLife, who specializes in retirement planning.  

Juice & Jammies

It’s been a little while since we’ve done one of these: On Friday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m., put on your pj’s and join Ms. Erika for a pre-bedtime story, snack, and craft! This low-key storytime will be just the thing to prepare your young folks to count some sheep.

This month’s theme will be “love.”  We’re seeing how well this program works on a Friday this month rather than a Thursday, so please note the change of day!

Trivia Night!

On Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., make a team, study up, and BYOB to our monthly mind-twisting trivia contest. Entrance is $5 and the winners take half the door.

Contestants must be 21 and up, please. Like Juice & Jammies, we’ll be trying this on a different day, so please make note that we’ll be doing this on a Wednesday, not a Thursday, night.