About the Friends of the Corona Public Library

About The Friends

Summer 2010

volunteers fill the puzzle The Friends of the Corona Public Library is an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit support group for the Library. We were first organized in 1964 by a small group at the old Carnegie Library. That small building, located at Main and Eighth Streets, was the site of Corona’s first true Library. The first "Friends", a group of six Corona women, were dedicated to expanding what at that time were very limited Children’s services. Many long-time Corona residents fondly remember those first story-hours complete with colorful felt-board characters voiced by an enthusiastic narrator. From that humble beginning, The Friends organization has grown to become an integral and vital part of the Library’s supporters.

Our mission is to create community knowledge, interest and awareness about the Library. And, in so doing, we provide many necessary contributions to the book collection, fund special events and projects, and donate many wonderful physical enhancements to the Library environment itself.

The Friends have a long history of funding Corona Library enhancements and sponsoring Library events. In the recent past our sponsored events have included the Written By Author Speaker Events, the annual Photo Contest, Book-a-Palooza Street Fair, the Summer Reading Program, The Family Movie Nites, Adopt-a-Book matching funds for additional book resources, Children's Area soft furniture and murals, Teen Area decor, Library's new signage, the lobby Aquarium, Seasonal and Summer Music Events, and more.
Learn more about these projects »

Friend of the Year 2010 - Ed Armijo

He's dependable, steady. friendly, unflappable and easy to work with. And now, Ed Armijo is also our Corona Public Library "Friend of the Year"!
Ed Armijo was announced as this year's recipient of the Friend of the Year Award presented by the Friends of the Corona Public Library at the Friends' Annual Meeting on June 12, 2010. Ed is approaching the 3,000 volunteer hours milestone which he's achieved by working in the BookShop during the past (almost) three years. He averages 25 hours a week as a Friend volunteer.
Ed has been trained to work and excels at most of the BookShop's "behind the scenes" jobs – sorting and stocking, as well as moving books and materials from basement and garage areas up into the Shop. We call him "The Facilitator". It was our lucky day in October of 2008 when he decided to expand his volunteer activities to include the Corona Public Library. Ed also volunteers at God's Kitchen – primarily picking up food for the shelter.
He previously worked in the business world as an Industrial Engineer, specializing in metallurgy, spanning 35 years before retiring from that career about four years ago. Ed and his wife, Jan, have lived in Corona since 1985. Their three adult children, Chris, Catherine and Craig, also live in the area. Camping and vacationing are an important part of Armijo family – there are often 50 or more of them in any given place at a time.

THANKS ED - WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU DO FOR THE FRIENDS' BOOKSHOP!

Friend of the Year 2009 - Ingrid Wicken

Our great thanks to Ingrid Wicken, the Corona Public Library Friend of the Year. Ingrid is a 10- year volunteer for the Friends, working primariy in the BookShop at the Library sorting and pricing book donations. She is a self-avowed "book nerd" and said she was quite surprised to be voted Friend of the Year. Outside the Library, Ingrid enjoys visiting other Bookstores in her travels and counts among her favorites, "Powell's" in Portland and Larry McMurtry's "Booked Up" in Archer, Texas. She also has created her own "library" of skiing history in Southern California. You can learn more about The California Ski Library at her website.
Ingrid is a great representative of the Friends!

2009- June 2010 Highlights

The Friends' Adopt-a-Book program helped the Library again this past year. A total of $52,460 was provided the library for the purchase of books to place on shelves. Half of these funds were donated from different sources or grants and the other half was matching funds provided by The Friends. This was a significant increase over last year's.

The Friends' Sponsored Programs included so many different options this past year from the Written By meet the author sessions to the Summer Reading Programs for our youth.

The Friends' BookShop continues to be a great success generating over $100,000 in sales again last year! Thank you to all who used our BookShop to make their purchases. Special thanks to our BookShop volunteers, under the leadership of Lynda Scott and Phyllis Truppi, who provide the manpower and enthusiasm to maintain the success of the BookShop.

The Friends' Photo Contest "Magical Moments" was a gigantic success with over 95 photographs submitted and displayed in The Gallery at the Library. You can view the winners on this website's photo-contest page here. We look forward to next year's contest in the Spring of 2011.