DUNNVILLE — Looking for a range of holiday gifts at prices that won’t break the bank? There’s something for everyone at the annual Elves Shoppe, hosted by Friends of the Dunnville Public Library (FODPL).
Group member Anne Gallant is the driving force behind the annual market, which raises funds to help the library with initiatives throughout the year, but there is a small army of supporters behind her.
“Some of the items are donations from members of FODPL. A lot are donations from people in the community. I try to send a thank you letter to everyone, but not everyone leaves their name,” said Gallant. “I’d like to thank everyone in the community for all their support and for all their donations, because we couldn’t do this without them.”
Gallant keeps her eyes peeled all year for items to purchase at a good price to turn a profit at the market.
“It’s just to do what we can to help the library to fundraise,” said group member Anne Mageran.
Some of the items on sale this year included specialty scarves, hats, and sock dolls donated by patron Trudy Marigold, plastic canvas items from patron Wendy Ballard, board games, holiday-themed statuettes, painted rocks, bookmarks, tin superhero signs, vintage teddy bears, and more.
Mageran said one of the sale’s most popular items this year are the mystery gifts, with over 200 sold to date.
“One of our members wraps them up. I don’t even know what’s in them,” said Margeran.
“Stuff just seems to arrive. People drop stuff off. A lot of the items this year were given to me by one of our members who moved back to the US because she was ill, and she passed away,” said Gallant of her friend April Cormachi. “She was very involved in FODPL until she got a terminal illness.”
Gallant said a key feature of the shop is ensuring that items for sale are priced fairly, “so people in the community who can’t afford expensive things can find something nice at a price they can afford. It’s getting harder and harder for us to find things we can price reasonably, but a lot of the things are donated, hand-knitted, handmade ornaments.”
Funding from the sale, as well as the group’s perennially popular summer book sale, have helped them make several significant contributions, including $40,000 for renovations six years ago.
“We’ve purchased things for the children’s department. Tables, chairs, activities, reusable things for art projects,” said Gallant.
“We donated an OBIE,” added Mageran, referring to a projector-based video game system offering interactive, hands-on games.
The group has also purchased Lego for the Lego Club, and chairs, stands, and ukuleles for the Ukulele Club. Mageran noted, “We have ukuleles here that can be borrowed like a book.”
This year, the group is fundraising to purchase a bench to place on a newly poured concrete pad outside the premises.
“The library gives us a list of the things they’d like to purchase,” said Gallant.
She thanked the community once again for their ongoing support of FODPL fundraising activities, concluding, “It is very successful, but we couldn’t do it without the community. They are very important, and we can’t thank them enough.”
