The Friends of the Sun City Libraries re-elected three officers and filled a vacant officer position at its annual meeting Feb. 13. Re-elected were Sue Blechl, president; Jessica Potter Slider, …
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COMMUNITY
Friends of the Sun City Libraries elects officers
Submitted photo/Sue Blechl
Standing, from left, Jessica Potter Slider, treasurer; Sue Blechl, president; Joyce Voss, secretary. Seated is Tom Haugsby, vice president.
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The Friends of the Sun City Libraries re-elected three officers and filled a vacant officer position at its annual meeting Feb. 13. Re-elected were Sue Blechl, president; Jessica Potter Slider, treasurer; and Joyce Voss, secretary. Tom Haugsby was elected vice president.
Two new members joined the board during the year — Haugsby and Dan Kellams — and a third, Geri Thacker, joined in February.
Other board members are Irene Nathanson, Ruth Polansky and Sherri Sharp. Cathy Weyers completed her term as a director in 2024, but continues to serve as manager of the Friends bookstore, Books Around the Corner, in the Bell library.
Recruiting new board members is one of the priorities for 2025, Blechl said.
Chief among the notable events of 2024, according to Blechl, was “the overwhelming community support for renewing the leases of the libraries in the Bell and Fairway recreation centers when it appeared that we might lose one or both of them.”
More than 1,000 residents attended an RCSC meeting to express support for both libraries, she said. RCSC subsequently signed new five-year leases for both libraries.
The Friends’ bookstore realized more than $45,000 in book sales during the year, an increase of almost $7,000 over 2023. The money is spent to support the libraries in various ways. In 2024, for example, the Friends supported 38 programs at the two libraries. A presentation by Arizona Highways publisher Win Holden on the 100-year history of the magazine attracted more than 50 attendees at the Bell library, and a holiday concert featuring the Central Arizona Flute Ensemble for the Fairway library drew an audience of 64 persons.
Friends also provided $10,000 to install charging stations at reading tables at the Bell library.
Friends of the Sun City Libraries is a certified 5013c nonprofit organization of approximately 100 volunteers who work in the bookstore, help out in the library, visit homebound residents and promote the libraries at public events. These volunteers spent an estimated 9,500 hours on library matters in 2024.
