HARLEM VALLEY — This area really knows how to get down and dirty when it comes to waging a food fight — but not the type of food fight that might initially come to mind. Three of the region’s public libraries, the Pine Plains Free Library, the NorthEast-Millerton Library and the Dover Plains Library won first, second and third places, respectively, for raising the most food during a holiday drive originated by Dover Library Director Susan Totter.
"It’s kind of neat we were the top three," Totter said, adding that 13 libraries from the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS), plus the central office itself, participated in the event. "When we put all of the numbers together and figured it all out I thought, wow, this is really exciting. Everybody did a really great job."
The food fight worked differently at different libraries. Some libraries forgave late fees on overdue books to patrons who brought in nonperishable food items, while some libraries put 50 cents toward any fines that patrons owed per food items they donated. Other libraries said a simple "thank you" and hoped for more donations to follow.
Different libraries also kept the collection going for various lengths of time. The Pine Plains library collected food for 34 days; the Dover library collected food for seven weeks; and the Millerton library kept the collection going for about a month. Totter said she used the averaged amount of food collected per day over the collection period to determine a winner. Pine Plains averaged more than 17 items a day. Millerton averaged 12.7 items a day, while Dover averaged 12.2 items a day.
"It was better than I expected," she said. "People were extremely generous. Knowing this is a time of need and that so many people were needing something, we didn’t expect that kind of turnout, because we thought people would need more than what they could give."
NorthEast-Millerton Library Director Midge Quick agreed the outcome of the food drive spoke volumes about people’s generosity.
"We had good community support," Quick said. "I’m really pleased. I’m proud of this community — they’re really a great bunch of people."
According to Quick, her library has conducted a similar drive before, offering amnesty for book fines in exchange for donated food. It worked so well this time Quick said she might try to hold another food drive again during the year.
"I think the food bank can definitely benefit from it," she said, adding that one of the incentives of the food fight was that the collections went directly to local food pantries, right in the libraries’ own towns. "I’m glad it stayed within our community. It was local, and people knew they were doing something for their own community.
"I think we get so involved in our own lives and the hard times we’re having personally and we forget there are others out there for whom even a can of soup might make a difference," Quick added.
The librarian said she still has people calling today, asking if they can bring food in. That request is never denied, it’s just rerouted, directly to the food pantry. In Millerton that means the call is sent to Mariley Najdek, who helps run the pantry, at 518-789-3077. In Amenia, that call can be made to Vines and Branches, the food bank at Immaculate Conception, at 845-373-8193. In Pine Plains the Food Locker, which is run out of Methodist Church, can be reached by calling 518-398-7692.
"It makes you look at things and say, ‘This is really not hard to make a difference,’" Totter said. "So when you ask, ‘Should I bother doing this?’ it definitely makes you think twice about doing things. It was great. I probably had the most fun.
"I just want to thank the community for contributing so much and for wanting to help out," she added. "We’re here at the library to try to offer things to make it easier in this economy, but people have definitely stepped up to the plate and helped out more than we ever could have on our own."
