Collecting items for the Great Give Back

Libraries remain the hub of their communities, and one way they are serving neighbors is by coordinating efforts to help those in need.
As part of the Great Give Back — a community service program started in Suffolk County and now offered throughout the state — many Nassau County libraries are helping their communities by initiating service projects throughout October.
The program started in 2017 when the Suffolk County Public Library Directors Association and the Suffolk Cooperative Library System sought a way to help communities. The program soon spread throughout the state and last year, 299 New York libraries participated, and more than 27,000 items were collected and donated.
“A few colleagues and I wanted to create an event in Suffolk County that brought positivity to our communities and showed that libraries are a central hub for giving back and creating good,” said Derek Ivie, youth services coordinator of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System.
Nassau libraries have offered hundreds of service-oriented projects, including food and pet supply drives and clean-ups of parks, according to Renee McGrath, manager of youth services for the Nassau Library System.

“The Great Give Back enables our member libraries to offer their patrons an opportunity to participate in a day of service-oriented projects,” McGrath said.
This year’s event will take place on Oct. 21, but many libraries are offering projects throughout October. Dozens of Nassau libraries are participating, including Sea Cliff Village Library, Gold Coast Public Library, Locust Valley Library, Glen Cove Public Library and Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library.
Each library has selected a charitable organization to work with for part of or in some cases the entirety of the month. While the causes and contributions vary, each library is doing its part to give back.
Glen Cove Public Library is working with Cove Animal Rescue, an animal shelter in Glen Cove, collecting different kinds of cat and dog foods as well as treats for the animals, cleaning materials and paper plates. Amy Mondello, the library’s head of adult services, said the library’s circulation desk will be receiving donations throughout the month until Oct. 31.
“With Covid and the prices of thing going up, we just thought it would be a nice way to help the community and the animals of our community and the volunteers and workers at the Cove Animal Shelter,” Mondello said.
Marion Dodson, the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library’s adult program coordinator, said the library had partnered with Birthday Wishes, a national charity which donates birthday presents and gift bags to homeless and financially struggling children and their families. The library will be gathering party supplies until Oct. 21, when from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. volunteers will help assemble and wrap the boxes of birthday goodies to be shipped to the charity’s headquarters.
“We participate every year,” Dodson explained. “This year we wanted to do something different than what we’d done in the past.”
The Locust Valley Library is holding live music events at the library every Friday evening, where they will collect donations of socks to send to soldiers through the Warm Feet For Warriors charity, according to Michael Vinas, the library’s adult program coordinator.
The Sea Cliff Village Library will be gathering contributions for NOSH Delivers, Inc., a food bank in Glen Cove. People interested in donating non-perishable foods like canned goods, rice, pasta and other similar products can drop them off at both the main library and Children’s Library.
The Gold Coast Library will be holding its Great Give Back on Oct. 28, inviting children from grades 6-12 to get community service hours by painting pumpkins which will be donated to a local nursing home. While Michael Morea, the library’s director, said that a nursing home has not yet been selected to be the recipient, he added that he and the library staff saw this as an opportunity to brighten the season for the Gold Coast’s golden residents.
Anyone interested in learning more about how to donate can visit any of the participating libraries’ websites or visit TheGreatGiveBack.org for more details about the program.