• The program runs from November 16 through December 17.
• For each item donated from the "Accepted Donations List" $1.00 in existing overdue fines will be waived.
• Printable accepted donations lists are available on the Library's website - here - or at the check-out desks.
• The Food for Fines program applies to items checked out at the Greensburg and Westport branches. This program does not apply to lost or damaged items. 

• Please note: ramen type noodles will not be accepted this year.

• Individuals without overdue fines are also encouraged to donate. Drop your donation off at the Greensburg or Westport Libraries.

Food will be donated to the Greensburg Cheer Fund for delivery on Christmas Eve morning with the toys and other items. All items donated to the Cheer Fund go to people who live in Greensburg and Decatur County. Your donations will have a local impact. Up to 60% of local community children are on the free/reduced lunch program at school.

Many of these children will be hungry over Christmas break. The Cheer Fund is providing nutritious and kid friendly food for the holidays.

You can help Greensburg/Decatur County kids AND pay your fines, too!

 

TV dinners have Thanksgiving to thank. In 1953, someone at Swanson misjudged the number of frozen turkeys it would sell that Thanksgiving -- by 26 TONS! Some industrious soul came up with a brilliant plan: Why not slice up the meat and repackage with some trimmings on the side? Thus, the first TV dinner was born!

Click above to hear Swanson's story.

Going shopping? Not if you're a plumber. Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for them, according to Roto-Rooter, the nation's largest plumbing service. After all, someone has to clean up after household guests who "overwhelm the system."

Leaving a legacy: When Abe Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, it was thanks to the tireless efforts of a magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale. Her other claim to fame? She also wrote the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Gobble, gobble? Only male turkeys, called toms, gobble. Females, called hens, cackle.

If Ben Franklin had his way, the turkey would be our national bird. An eagle, he wrote in a letter to his daughter, had "bad moral character." A turkey, on the other hand, was a "much more respectable bird."

Born in the U.S.A. - Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. Canadians celebrate it too. Except, they do it the second Monday in October.

Don't blame the bird: You stuffed yourself, and now you're feeling sleepy, very sleepy. But it isn't the tryptophan in the turkey. In fact, chickens and cheddar cheese have more tryptophan. You're groggy because you overate. And digesting all that grub takes a lot of energy.

Talking turkey: Why is it called a turkey? Back in the day, the Europeans took a liking to the guinea fowls imported to the continent. Since the birds were imported by Turkish merchants, the English called them turkeys. Later, when the Spaniards came to America, they found a bird that tasted like those guinea fowls. When they were sent to Europe, the English called these birds "turkeys" as well.

Black Friday Blues? Black Friday is commonly mistaken for being named for the day retail companies would become profitable for the year. Retailers used to record their losses in red ink and profits in black. But, that's not the case. In the 1950s, police in Philadelphia used the term to describe the horde of shoppers from the suburbs that descended into the city for the days after Thanksgiving when the city promoted big sales and decorations, ahead of the Army/Navy football game on Saturday. Traffic cops were required to work 12-hour shifts, no one could take off and people would flood the sidewalks, parking lots and streets. The cops had to deal with it all and began calling it "Black Friday."
City merchants also started to use the term to describe the long lines and shopping mayhem at their stores.
In 1961, there was a push to re-brand the day as "Big Friday" as city officials were worried the negative connotation would keep people from coming to the city. Clearly, the effort didn't catch on and retailers nationwide have learned to embrace the name and the chance to operate in the black.

www.cnn.com/2014/11/27/living/thanksgiving-trivia/

www.money.cnn.com/2014/11/28/news/black-friday-history/

Each month the newsletter highlights

events in our community that might

be of interest to you.

These are not Library events.