The State of ALFA
Astoria Library Friends Association
Annual Meeting
March 31, 2026
Welcome to the Astoria Library Friends Association annual membership meeting. We are ALFA, for short, and I am Pat Thomas, ALFA board Chair. I am thrilled to see so many people here tonight in our newly renovated space, and hope that we can answer your questions about ALFA.
Mission Statement:
The Astor Library Friends Association (ALFA) is a 501 (c)(3) volunteer-run, non-profit organization that provides resources and funding for community programming beyond the scope of the library's budget.
Over the year the library underwent renovation, so to ALFA worked to revitalize itself. We have added new board members (and lost valued, long-time members) as we revamp and renew our goals. Thanks to our webmaster Fred Pot, we have added a website—astorlibraryfriends.org—and are updating our membership database. Spurred on by our grant from United for Libraries/Penguin Random House, and a major donation from Jeff Newenhoff of City Lumber, we have purchased gardening equipment for our Library of Things.
Board members Patsy Oser, Gina Mattioda and Miki Frace have spearheaded the organization and opening of ALFA's new Bookshop. The Bookshop will be open Saturdays from 10:30-2:30. Book donations are welcome (no magazines, encyclopedias, or dog-eared book), please, preferably during Bookshop hours so that we don't overburden the librarians.
Treasurer Dave Ambrose reports that ALFA's copy machine is generating pre-renovation revenue again for library programs. Later in 2026 we plan to start a membership drive to help expand our contributions to the library. All this to help bring more and better programs and services free to the community.
To continue, we need the help of past, present and future ALFA members. Most of our contact information is more than ten years old. If you are a past member, please contact us (info@astorlibraryfriends.org) so that we may include you in our mailings. To help attract new members and encourage current Friends participation, we have set a regular meeting time of the second Wednesday of each month at 2:30. We plan to schedule special meetings for those who can't attend during regular business hours, so please let us know what is good for you.
And, last but not least, we are searching for new people. Do you love books, have ideas and a few hours each month? We want you! Most importantly we are looking for volunteers with database, technical, social media, and bookkeeping skills. We need volunteers for the Bookshop, people to help set up events, people to help maintain the Library of Things. We are looking for event cookie bakers! Most importantly, we are looking for people with ideas and the desire to help support the library.
Look for ALFA members at library events, at the Bookshop, contact us by email, through the website, (www.astorlibraryfriends.org) or become a members by filling out a remittance envelope at the library—we look forward to talking with you. And, we now have ALFA buttons., showing off our logo .Be among the first to show your support of ALFA and the library by buying one tonight!
Patricia Thomas
ALFA Board Chair
Annual Membership Meeting
Astoria Library Friends Association (ALFA) invites past, present and prospective members to their annual membership meeting on March 31 at 5:30 in the Astoria Public Library, 450 10th Street in Astoria.
A brief informational and business meeting will be followed by The Book of the Dead, a presentation by Mac Burns chronicling Astoria's more colorful coroner's reports.
Refreshments will be provided. Paid up, renewing, and newly joining members will get early access to the new ALFA Bookshop following the meeting.
ALFA Awarded Grant
Astor Library Friends Association (ALFA) was recently awarded a $500.00 grant for rural and small libraries from United for Libraries and Penguin Random House. This money will be used to purchase gardening books and tools which can be checked out from the newly renovated library in the fall. ALFA plans to match the grant with another $500.00 in local donations. People can join, donate, and learn about ALFA at their new website www.astorlibraryfriends.org . Donations by check may be made at the library.
ALFA is a volunteer run, non-profit organization that provides resources and funding for community programming beyond the scope of the library's budget. ALFA finances its activities through an ongoing book sale at the library, the copy machine, donations, and member fees.
United for Libraries is a national network of enthusiastic library supporters who believe in the importance of libraries as the social and intellectual centers of communities and campuses. No one has a stronger voice for libraries than those who use them, raise money for them, and govern them. By uniting these voices, library supporters everywhere will become a real force to be reckoned with at the local, state, and national.
The State of ALFA
Annual Meeting Message from the Chair
April 9,2025
Hello and welcome to the annual meeting of the Astor Library Friends Association—also known as ALFA. This is our 43rd year as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. My name is Pat Thomas, the Interim President of ALFA, and I would like to thank the Columbia River Maritime Museum for donating this meetings space today while our library is under renovation.
It is fortuitous that this year our meeting falls during National Library week, April 6-12, a week that comes with an increased focus on amplifying the invaluable role that libraries fill in society.
In addition, Take Action for Libraries Day is on Friday April 10. As you probably know, Library funding is in danger at the federal level, making this a crucial time to write, call, or visit your legislators. Links on the American Library Association ( www.ala.org ) and United for Libraries websites help make this contact process easy.
We also have National Librarians Day to look forward to on April 16, a day when we want to give extra thanks to the intrepid and hard-working Astoria librarians and Library Director, who have been working under duress (and umbrellas!) and in reduced conditions for a long time now, both waiting for the renovation to begin, and now waiting for it to be over.
This year, besides supporting library programming, purchasing magazine subscriptions, and maintaining the copy machine, ALFA has accomplished a lot within the organization. Last fall we had a hugely successful book sale.
And thanks in large part to new member/volunteer Fred Pot, our new website is up and running. It is still a work in progress but is already providing information and attracting attention, and donations! All people paying their dues online become members, but we are still working out how to acknowledge this properly on the website. In the process we will be rebuilding our membership contact list. ALFA membership cards will be in the works soon and will be mailed out to all members, so please re-up or join us as new members by using the website—it will help to streamline our mailing list and accounting procedures—and we promise to send you only vital ALFA information.
Any other donations to keep our library growing—whether one-time, single, recurring or memorials, will be gratefully received and appreciated. We rely on longtime supporters and are looking for members to help support the Friends as we support the library. Cash donations may be made to any ALFA member and at the library. We donate our time, but your donations are just as, if not more, important to our mission to aid the library, its staff, and patrons.
ALFA's Board is also working on updating the bylaws, including our amendment vote today.
But here's our really BIG news! We recently learned that our application for the American Library Association/Random House small rural libraries grant was accepted, and that we will soon be awarded $500.00 toward our new Library of Things, a wide-ranging project beginning next fall—
literally from the ground up—when the library reopens.
The Things, in this case, will be gardening tools that can be checked out from the library. The tools will be available in conjunction with upcoming gardening classes, and a seed bank, along with community partnerships including The Food Web—food preparation, cooking, and preserving classes along with the appropriate equipment (dehydrators, canners, mixers) that can be checked out of the library, and the OSU Extension and Master Gardeners, all to help build food resiliency in the county. As you may know, over 1/3 of our area's residents experience food insecurity, numbers which we aim to reduce by helping community members become more knowledgeable and resilient.
ALFA will match the grant funding for tools with another $500. $250 will purchase gardening books, and $250 is earmarked for programming, outreach materials, and additional gardening equipment. My desire is that we can raise another $1000.00 for the project by the time it begins next fall. Suzanne will fill you in on the exciting community partnerships that have grown out of this venture.
Thank you to the ALFA Board, Friends, and volunteers who have helped make this year a success. And thank you to all potential Friends who might find a home in this valuable community organization. Any organization is only as strong as its members.
Patricia Thomas
ALFA Board Interim Chair