Food for Fines program nets 800 items

GUELPH - Each year Wellington County’s library system holds a “Food for Fines” campaign in the fall.

The program allows patrons to pay for outstanding library fines through the donation of food for the local food bank. This year the library collected about 800 items on behalf of the food bank with patrons on average contributing more than the required donation to pay down their fines, notes chief librarian Murray McCabe in his November report to the county’s library board.

In his report, McCabe notes the programs’ benefits are two-fold.

“It supports the gathering of food for those in need and secondly, it encourages the return of library materials with an added social incentive.”