An indoor mini-golf raises funds for children’s welfare Rotary club usually holds a golf tourney to benefit the library every year, but members decided to innovate a bit this time around by holding an indoor activity attracting a number of people.

Even though mini golf is usually an outdoor summertime activity, the Osterhout Free Library along with the Rotary Club of Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania, US -D 7410) decided to give the community a chance to enjoy it in the wintertime as well.

The Rotary Club hosted the All “Fore” Books Mini Golf Classic fundraiser to benefit the library’s children and youth services.

Eighteen mini-golf holes were set up throughout different parts of the library, starting in the main level near the entrance, moving back to the Reading Room, through the Non-Fiction stacks, then up to the third floor and then concluding with the last hole in the children’s section.

“I think it’s great,” said Elaine Rash, youth services coordinator of the library. “They get to see all areas of the library.”

Bookends that were painted dark green were used as “holes.”

The Rotary club usually holds a golf tournament to benefit the library every year, but members decided to switch it up a bit this time around.

“We noticed that our golf tournament numbers were declining for the outdoors, because there’s a lot of competition, so we thought it be a great idea to try it,” said club President Lars Anderson, referring to the mini-golf idea.

“We pitched it to the library, and they thought it was something different and unique.”

Adults were charged $10 and children were charged $5 to participate. Gift baskets donated by the Rotary Club as well as other community sponsors were used as raffle prizes.

Also, if any participant scored a hole in one on the last hole, their name was entered into a drawing to win a $500 cash prize.

Rick Miller, executive director of the library, said that the money raised from the event will be used for crafts, weekend children’s programming, special events such as Read Across America Day and Dr Seuss’ birthday as well as the summer reading programme.

“It’s really one of the key missions of the library to support early childhood literacy, to introduce children to books, to show them the fun of reading as well as the advantages of being regular readers,” he said.

“It’s been wonderful. We certainly appreciate that they think of us,” said Rash about the Rotary club’s fundraising efforts.

Anderson said that funding that the library receives through the state and federal government is always “changing and fluctuating,” so the club likes to contribute to the library through public fundraising events such as the mini-golf.

“Anything we can do to help support the library and make sure that it continues to flourish and give back to the local community is something that the Rotary is happy to support and to take on.”

Source: Times Leader