Library auction a success
JULIE CHAUTIN Contributing Writer

Auction goers hold their bidding cards up to start the Friends of Murphy Public Library1s annual fundraiser. Monies raised will be used to upgrade the children's department.

The number one retirement destination in the world is Murphy, North Carolina. That is the opinion of Friends of Murphy Public Library. Not because of the beautiful mountains or the climate, but because of the people.

The Friends held their third annual fundraising auction at Grove Auctions on June 9 and raised $7,000 to upgrade the children's area of the library. Over 130 businesses, craftspeople and individuals donated their special treasures.

There is a rule among nonprofits that you can never thank donors enough. The Friends will try. A giant list of the 130- plus 2007 auction donors will be posted at the library for every patron and visitor to see.

On that list once again will be Bob and Judy Grove who volunteered their time so that all proceeds went to the library. They not only lent their auction expertise and offices for their favorite cause, the education of children, but also their good humor.

The library's Jeff Murphy along with Steven Abernethy were the backbone of the event as they worked the computers cataloging sales. It was a first time for Abernethy to sit in the catbird seat entering the data of who bought what, and he performed it with assurance. Librarian Murphy had the enjoyment of collecting payments and thanking happy auction goers.

Nonprofit organizations such as the Friends of the Library are dependent on volunteer leadership. The auction committee's Jane Hembree and Joan Tidwell are such good leaders that if hot coals had been auctioned off, their volunteers would have walked over them.

One of those volunteers was Nora King who did not have to walk on hot coals but did walk into over 100 businesses to ask for their help. King cannot stop singing the praises of local business people and their generosity.

And just like in "The Sopranos," once you are part of the library, there is no getting out. Former librarian Teresa Thomas was a welcome sight volunteering on the auction floor along with her daughter Louise and board member Virginia Mattox.

Local realtor Elo-ly Bailey's committee brought so many homemade refreshments that it begged the question: when do these library goers have time to read? Moreover eating pleasures did not stop when Bob Grove sold the last item. Cakes and pies were some of the "crafts" sold along with a French dinner, and not one, but two Tex-Mex cooking lessons and dinners by Friends president Fran McCord.

The people of Cherokee County and its environs made the library's auction a success. Volunteers spent countless hours. Local businesses were unstinting in their generosity.

Crafts people sent not one item, but two or three. All that remains is to let the record keepers of the Top Ten Best Places to Live know. Meanwhile the list of donors can be seen daily at the library.

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