Friends of the North Miami Library

The Friends of North Miami Library (FNML) continued to offer support to North Miami, Hialeah and North Miami Beach libraries in 2023. We support and fund special and ongoing programs at all three libraries. But mostly for North Miami. One of the biggest projects in 2023 was our gift of a beautiful, colorful mural of children, books, animals and flowers on an entire wall in the childrens room of North Miami library. Two local artists created the design and children assisted with painting the lower section. It will be there for many years for all to enjoy. We fund an ongoing family and community garden program which is held weekly with Master Gardeners. Children and their parents are learning to grow and care for vegetables and plants. Its a grow and take program. It is always well attended. FNML provides garden supplies and members volunteer at the workshops. This includes the lovely butterfly garden in the entrance of the library and a large garden behind the building. We continue to fund the SWANK license that affords the library the opportunity to provide movies to the patrons including silent movies to the teens. We paid for a subscription for my LIBRO program which allows patrons to access information and resources via voice or text. FNML also purchased Reader Zone software to track books read for the summer reading challenge. The FNML helped the staff purchase a new Smartboard for the Childrens room. We paid 50% of the cost and the city paid the remainder. Now the library has two Smartboards! Keeping teens engaged and involved is not an easy task. However, the creative library staff continues to plan great well-attended programs. The teens enjoy the Mad Science program and AI Creators that we fund. This program was funded for all three libraries. Teens also enjoy the International Game Week, the Anime Society, and Teentober. The Teacher Planning Day field trips are also a big hit! Teens who are college bound participate in the College Readiness program. The youth specialist at NMPL conceives and presents wonderful programs for children and youth. Weekly Storytime, Krafty Kids, and Sing and Read programs. FNML funds craft supplies, a treasure chest and prizes. We purchased a Cricut machine and supplies this year. Kids also participated in Spring break Storytime and a Bike Safety program. The library celebrates special designated months and holidays. FNML supports programs for Black History, Martin Luther King Day, Womens History, Haitian Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, and Halloween. Often sponsoring speakers, authors, workshops, books and refreshments. For Black History month we funded Imagine Me Storytime with a total of 12 local authors presenting. Free books were given at each weekly program. We also funded a Book Writers workshop presented by a nationally recognized author. Our support for the annual summer program continues. For 2023 the national theme was All Together Now. Weekly prizes were given to those who read the most books and grand prizes were given in each age category at a huge End of Summer Family Fair. The prizes for the summer reading challenge for all ages were provided by FNML. Special presentations from the following were also funded by FNML: Miami Childrens Museum-Building Noise, Wildlife Animal show, Mama Mia Magic show, Mystic Drumz, Miami Childrens Museum-Simamanani, AI Creators and MOCA. Snacks for participants were provided at all the shows. We look forward to continuing to support north Dade area libraries.