Hiris Honored As Volunteer Of the Year

    Pictured L to R: Library Director Maura Rottmund, Honoree Fred Hiris, Library Board President Margot Clauss.

Fred Hiris of Hawley has been honored by the Hawley Public Library with the 2011 Charles and Alma Hames Volunteer of the Year Award.

This award was established in 2000 by the Library’s Board of Directors to honor charter Board member the late Alma Hames and her late husband Charles who had demonstrated a decades-long commitment to supporting and volunteering at the Library as well as many other community organizations.

Like the Hames couple, Hiris has also been a dedicated Library volunteer throughout much of his life, which began in 1936 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, NY.  He credits his sister Helen Margaret Kropf with sparking his first interest in libraries when she took him at age three or four to the Washington Irving Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

He notes that very quickly he saw a book as “an interesting toy, portable, almost a living companion.”  Hiris also recalls with a smile the fun he used to have as a child playing hide and seek in the stacks.  That is, until the Branch Librarian ended the game!

INSURANCE CAREER

A graduate of Bushwick High School, Hiris went to work as a clerical staff member for Equitable Life Insurance Company while also taking some college courses.  His working career continued with other insurance companies until his retirement in 1991 from Cigna.

Hawley came into the lives of the Hiris family back in 1950 when his sister Helen married Fred Kropf and moved there with him.  In 1958 Fred’s parents, the late John and Helen Hiris, decided to make Hawley their home and their son moved here permanently in 1990 to take care of his widowed mother. 

Meanwhile, throughout all of his working years in New York, Hiris continued his volunteer commitments to a number of libraries including that of St. Brigid Roman Catholic Parish near his home and being in charge of the Book Cart at St. Clair’s Hospital in New York City.

TWO DECADE VOLUNTEER

His first experience at the Hawley Library was in 1990 when he arranged for his Library card, #10097.  After his mother’s death in 1991 he started as a Library volunteer working at the main desk.  But very quickly he took on his current responsibility, that of “reading the shelves”.  It’s a job he obviously loves, describing it as “very rewarding. It pleases me to do it.  There are interesting experiences within it”.

According to Library officials, Hiris does his “shelf reading” about once a week.  They note that it requires considerable concentration as Hiris must make sure that the materials on the shelves are in order, in good condition, not duplicated, and not out of date.

CIGNA HELPS TOO

Another benefit for the Hawley Library thanks to Hiris’ efforts is the fact that Cigna Foundation has made a number of monetary donations to the Library as part of  its program to support organizations for which their employees and retirees volunteer.

Noting that “volunteering keeps me caring about other people”, Hiris also donates his time at Wayne Memorial Hospital and is a member of the choir at the First Presbyterian Church of Hawley.  In addition, he maintains a regular weekly correspondence with two shut-ins, one a former co-worker in New York and the other a Spokane, WA member of the Catholic Pen Pal Club.

Hiris is the twelfth Hawley Public Library volunteer to be named Volunteer of the Year.  Others include: Caryl Schaeder in 2000, Nancy Parke in 2001, Betty Crissy in 2002, Carole Pederson in 2003, Marie Williams in 2004, Norma Anderson in 2005, Joan Nilsen in 2006, Grace Frisbie in 2007, Patricia Spruce in 2008, Gloria Cagnacci in 2009, and Barbara Novak in 2010.

 Computer Instruction For Beginners

    Are you new to computers? Does new technology make you feel as if the world is passing you by? Relax! Beginning January 24, Hawley Public Library will present free classes in basic computer and Internet use. Classes are designed for beginners and are presented in easy-to-understand, jargon-free language with practical tips and hands-on instruction. Classes will be held Tuesday, January 24 at 10 am and Tuesday, February 7 at 10 am.
    Discover just how easy it is to get up to speed with computers. Sign up by calling the library at 226-4620.

Winter Programs for Children and Teens

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Library Friends Group Presents Check

 

Pictured left to right: Friends President Lynn Gavula, Library Director

Maura Rottmund, and Friends Vice-President Donna Jennings.

 

For the fifth consecutive year, the Friends of Hawley Public Library presented the library with a donation of $5,000. The Friends raise funds for the library through sales of used books; an annual birthday tribute to Helen Decker Blough, one of the founders of the Hawley Library; gold sales; and other fundraising events. Past donations from the Friends have been used to purchase computers, furniture, copy machines, and other equipment. Library Director Maura Rottmund said, "The library is grateful for the work of the Friends and their generous contributions, especially in these economically challenging times."  Ms. Rottmund added that this year's donation will focus on computers and technology.

 

Anyone interested in the Friends of Hawley Public Library, can call the library at 570.226.4620 for more information.

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