The Friday Follow-up: Record Attendance for STLS Advocates

Twila Barr (Cuba), Keturah Cappadonia (Wellsville), Pauline Emery (Corning), Karen Estep (Big Flats), Mike Fay (Addison),Peter Gamba (Penn Yan), Margo Gustina (Corning-STLS), Nic Gunning (Wellsville), Hannah Krull (Cuba), Heather Forness (Cuba), Marnie Lersch (Corning), Susan McGill (Penn Yan), Carol McGill (Pulteney), Roxanne Miller (Savona), Barb Radigan (Pulteney), Louise Richardson ( Corning), Pat Silvernail (West Elmira), Suzanne Krull (Cuba), Phil Trautman (Cohocton), Marsha Watson (Hammondsport), Leah Weber (Cuba), Candy Wilson (Savona), Joyce Witkowski (Hammondsport), Mary Wittig (Odessa) and Justin Zeh (Avoca).

30 Southern Tier residents volunteered for NYLA’s Library Advocacy Day, and more than 50 participated in the eight visits scheduled with our state legislators. I have never been so proud! It was the highest level of engagement I have seen since arriving in the Southern Tier.

What made last week’s endeavor even more exciting was being introduced on the Assembly floor. All STLS advocates were recognized for their efforts by all four STLS assembly representatives through the speaker’s moderator. Assemblyman Errigo, Friend, Giglio and Palmesano then took a moment to have photos taken with most of our advocates. It was certainly a first for me.

I truly believe our representatives acknowledged everyone took an entire day out of their lives to speak-up for libraries. They had no choice but to roll out the red carpet. I also think they genuinely enjoyed their time with us. They were clearly engaged in the moment. Most importantly they knew what they needed to do following our meetings.

This week all four assembly representatives and Senator Young along with Senator O’Mara have publically stated they will fight to restore the governor’s cut to library aid as well as increase library funding. We will not know the results of their actions until later today, but our advocacy efforts have been heard.

Advocacy is time consuming and exhausting. This is certainly the case when you drive to Albany and back in a single day. My level of respect for any advocate is extremely high. In fact, I absolutely love library advocates. Their energy drives me all year long.

In honor of the 30 people who went to Albany, and the other 20 who drove to Elmira or Jamestown, please make one last push to make our voices heard. All you need to do is click hear to send a message to Albany. A link has also been provided at the top of the page.