Community: a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
One important goal that I have for the Dillsburg Area Public Library is to build a better community. While that is a broad and sort of abstract concept, I want to make Dillsburg and the northern York area a better place for people to live and work. The library does that by offering high quality materials and programs, but we also do that by working with fellow non-profit groups. There are a lot of organizations that want to build a better community as well and they do so in their own ways. When we work together we build partnerships that benefit more than we could if we did so separately.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with several local organizations over the last few weeks as part of the Give Local York campaign. We have done far, far more as a team then we could have as individuals. We’ve been able to plan a whole day or events that celebrate philanthropy and community in northern York County. I have had the pleasure of working with NYCHAPS, Youth Impact Project, Central PA Horse Rescue, New Hope Ministries, Dillsburg Farmers’ Market, Dillsburg Kiwanis, Polar Bear Foundation, and the Red Land Community Library (a fellow member of York County Libraries). There are many other area non-profits that are also doing good work to strengthen community. I hope to build and strengthen these relationships in the future.
While we can’t solve all of the world’s problems, we can solve far more of them together. The most important question a non-profit organization can ask is “How can we help?” That question means not only how can we help our library users, but how can we as non-profits help each other to achieve common goals and build a better world and a better community, together.
Keith
(KLG)