Our Youngest Advocates by Alexander Ferguson

advocacyday2015kidsOn Feb 25th, I brought my 3 year old daughter Alana to Library Advocacy day in Albany. We caught the bus in New Paltz at 7:45am. It was an exciting adventure for her, her mom dropped us off with all our toys, snacks, and a Curious George Compilation book. Alana wanted to read story after story of Curious George, and enjoyed drawing pictures on her Magna-doodle on the bus ride.
Once we got there, we left our coats on the bus and walked through a long underground concourse to the LOB building, where we spent most of the day. On the way through the concourse we met the Librarian Casey Conlin and his 4 year old daughter Goldy who live in Rosendale.
Alana and Goldy met with our representatives Kevin Cahill and John J. Bonacic. Assembly member Cahill had a few community playthings blocks for Alana to play with, and Goldy drew some pictures while the adults spoke about the barriers to funding and budgets, and how they all supported libraries. Alana’s meeting with Cahill was cut a little short by a potty break.
Bonacic met with us briefly & then handed the meeting over to his counsel Jessica, who was very nice. Casey showed Goldy’s alphabet notebook she created at the library. Also Casey and I were applauded as dads who brought their daughters to library advocacy day, which was encouraging after a long day.
After meeting with their representatives and attending the rally at noon, the little ones ate snacks and played on the giant marble staircase while their fathers talked about 3d printers.
We walked back through the concourse, ate some soup, and made our way to the bus. On the way back, Alana very much enjoyed the popcorn and other snacks the Friends provided for the bus trip.
Thank you to the Friends of the Rosendale library for making this Advocacy adventure possible, and I’m sure our youngest advocates made an impression on our representatives.

 

It’s not too late to contact your elected official, and speak up about library funding.