ORANGE – Local business owner Stephanie Cook is planning a relay fundraiser for this Sunday, but participants are unlikely to suffer a cramp.
Cook, who owns Trail Head Outfitters & General Store, is hosting a puzzle relay to benefit the Wheeler Memorial Library, which has not had a major renovation since its construction in 1914. At least 10 people have signed up for a six-hour puzzle marathon of sorts, with others pledging money to the cause.
“It’s the same idea as a walking relay, where someone signs up to walk and gets sponsors family and friends per mile or a flat donation,” Cook said. The relay will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1 South Main St.
In November, Orange residents rejected by 58 votes a debt-exclusion override for the library, declining to authorize the ability to borrow up to $10.4 million to supplement a $5 million state grant for renovations. The vote failed 1291-1233, with 47% of registered voters casting ballots.
The library at 49 East Main St. is falling into disrepair. At a presentation at Town Hall on Nov. 1, Library Director Jessica Magelaner said the building’s basement — where the children’s section is — has extremely poor ventilation and relies almost entirely on ceiling fans and a dehumidifier. The library is also in desperate need of a new roof, as the current one regularly leaks and the building has no dedicated staff space and just one small bathroom. The facility is also not wheelchair-accessible.
Cook said that as of Wednesday morning at least $2,000 had been pledged for the puzzlers. Also, local couple Peter and Candace Cross has pledged to match all donations up to $6,000.
“My mom was a librarian. I was a librarian. Peter and I love libraries,” said Candace, who was the children’s librarian at Wheeler for the final 11 years of her career and now serves as a library trustee.
She said she was extremely disheartened by November’s vote “and one way to feel less discouraged was to dig down deep.”
The Crosses are regular customers at Trail Head and Candace said Cook’s mother, Terry Bouchard, who owns Corner Cafe in the back of Trail Head, taught their children in nursery school years ago. The cafe is closed Sundays but Bouchard will be on hand to serve cookies and coffee, and Cook mentioned Pizza Factory is donating food for the puzzlers. Cook also said she will donate 20% of Trail Head’s Sunday sales to the library cause.
She told the Greenfield Recorder she got the idea for a puzzle relay from cafe employee Austina Towle, whose mother has multiple sclerosis and started hosting puzzle relay fundraisers once a year because they are accommodating of people’s physical limitations and the weather.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.