FOR LASTING GIFTS TO HONOR THOSE YOU LOVE, LOOK TO YOUR SEVIER COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM

Beautiful, creative ideas for family and frends or memorials can be found at your Sevier County Public Library. Two types of gifts allow you to provide lasting ways to honor special people, places, and events in your life. At the same time, you will be helping the community, celebrating Sevier County history, and adding new materials to the new public library.

Sponsors have a broad price range and endless gift possibilities from which to choose. The bonus is that you will be a part of YOUR new library for generations to come. Library Board Chair and Foundation member Janet King says, “Last year I gave gifts of the tile wall; this year I plan to give new books for the new library – all in honor of people I love.”

2,010 for 2010. The goal is to add 2,010 items to the new library’s collection in 2010. You can sponsor a book for $25, and your sponsorship may be in honor or in memory of someone.  The new item will contain a special nameplate, identifying the donor and honoree’s names, and designed by local artist Toby Ward especially for this program.

You may choose the type of item and content area. For instance, you can choose from various literary genres, like fantasy, mystery, or romance; you may choose adult, teen, or children’s materials; you may opt for books, DVDs. or audio books. You may ask for large print items and may even request specific items.  All loved ones on your Christmas list could have a special item located in the new library just for them.

The Tile Wall. Imagine celebrating our Sevier County history by choosing a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted, 3-dimenssional ceramic tile that will be permanently installed in the foyer of the new library!  This mural wall will reflect our county’s history with the treasures of each of the Sevier County communities – everything from the architectural delights of our bridges and buildings to recipes and sayings that are true to Sevier County.

Along the base of the wall will be individual book spines – rows and rows of colorful books. Prices range from $100 to $7,500, and although over 100 of the history tiles and over 200 of the book spine tiles have been sold, many great tiles are still available.

If you enjoy the Great Smoky Mountains, you could buy waterfalls or rhododendron art, among many other mountain scenes still available. If your community is important to you, tiles like Boyds Creek Settlement are available; so are religious revivals and baptisms, cantilever barns, Murphy College, pickup trucks, Sevier County Fair, rod runs, sayings like “worn down to a nubbin’,” high school sports, the recipe for homemade churned ice cream, the daffodil and a hummingbird.

Many of the tiles allow you to help in the design, so the possibilities are endless. And, the wall will be a touchable and teachable tribute to the people and places of Sevier County.  You will be proud to bring relatives and friends to see the new tile wall, complete with a book outlining the history of each tile and information about the sponsor and honorees of the tiles. You will be able to touch your name and the people and places that are important to you.

Both programs are sponsored by the Foundation for the Sevier County Public Library System, and checks should be made out to the SCPLS Library Foundation. For more information, or to pick up a brochure, you may visit any of the local Sevier County Public Library branches: 321 Court Avenue and 315 Court Avenue in Sevierville; 137 W. Macon Lane in Seymour, or 319 W. Dumplin Valley Road in Kodak.  The sponsorship forms are also available at www.sevierlibrary.org, or you may call 865-774-3246.