On Monday, town commissioners in Mooresville, NC decided to implement a program called “Food for Fines”. The program is designed to allow citizens who have overdue book fines at the library to donate non-perishable food to waive all fees levied against them. Fines up to $10 will be waived with each item donated valued at $1. Sealed boxes, including cereal, will also be accepted.
The Mooresville Public Library will collect the food after the Thanksgiving holiday through the end of December and then donate it to the Mooresville Soup Kitchen. Several programs like this already exist throughout the state of North Carolina.
Library Director John Pritchard told the Mooresville Tribune,
“The town had been doing its own canned food program at town hall and one of our librarians asked if we could do something here… I don’t really have an idea how many people will participate but (Young Adult) has done a can collection in the past with the teen advisory board and they collected well over 100 cans.”
He added, “We’re hoping for the best and we think it’s a win-win for the library patrons and the soup kitchen.”
Programs similar to this have been run across the country and around the world with varying degrees of success ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousands in the past few years. Many people become reluctant to return overdue books but with these types of programs there have been instances where even the books themselves have been returned as well. There have even been anonymous donations to help pay for other patrons.
Edited and published by CB
