The FOL volunteer appreciation luncheon planning committee from left to right: Joan Pursley, Liping Cai, Fred VanNaerssen, Dianna Lucas, Megg Galloway, and Deborah Diehl.
Dianna Lucas
April was National Volunteer Month. What better way to celebrate than with a spring luncheon celebrating all of our treasured library volunteers. Forty-eight of the library volunteers gathered at the Robson clubhouse for a taco buffet with cookies and brownies for dessert, all provided by our own Wildhorse Grill and friends of the library.
Each attendant was provided a raffle ticket upon entry and drawings were held throughout the event. A total of 14 door prizes were awarded to those whose winning tickets were drawn. Prizes ranged from handmade pens from the wood shop here at Robson to gift certificates to the Wildhorse Grill and various other gift cards to restaurants, grocery stores and bookstores. Many of these prizes were donated by generous donors to the friends of the library.
The luncheon was a tribute to Gil and Sondra Clifton, two beloved former volunteers who moved away from Robson in March of this year and are dearly missed. They were loyal library volunteers for many years. They moved to Robson in 2013 and Sondra began her work as a volunteer in the library that same year. She shared the Thursday afternoon shift with Joan Pursley for 9 1/2 years. She and her husband Gil worked the Friday afternoon shift for about 10 years before ending in 2025 due to health issues that affected both of them. Gil began working on the library board in 2018 and was chair from 2021 until April of 2025 of what had by then become the library subcommittee. Sondra served on the library subcommittee from June of 2021 to December of 2025. Sondra was also a member of the volunteers committee and the collections committee—both parts of the library subcommittee. Sondra also filled the position of finding subs for volunteer vacancies from May of 2021 until October of 2024.
The luncheon was planned and implemented by a committee of volunteers who belong to friends of the library. They were chair, Dianna Lucas, Liping Cai, Deborah Diehl, Megg Galloway, Joan Pursley, and Fred VanNaerssen. Dianna opened the luncheon with a short tribute to Gil and Sondra. We were pleased to have Ralph Berry, chair of the library subcommittee, give additional opening remarks expressing appreciation for our volunteers. An entertaining book related game was led by Joan and Fred after a discussion of everyone’s favorite books from the past year. Additional thanks go to Nancy Tarpley for sending invitations and managing RSVPs, Debbie Blackburn for staffing the sign-in table, and Linda Bono for being our onsite photographer.
Dianna closed the luncheon with many thanks all around to her committee and all the volunteers who were present.