Volunteer Appreciation Week 2026

Submitted by Elise Herbst

National Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 19–25) provided a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals who dedicate their time and talent to the Forsyth County Public Library. While we are grateful for their contributions every day, this week allowed each of our branches to host special celebrations in their honor. We are delighted to share these highlights and reflections shared from each location. 

Submitted by Teresa Santangelo:

Sharon Forks Library is very lucky to have a group of six dedicated Shelving volunteers and one Programming volunteer, two of whom are former FCPL staff members.

Linda has been volunteering for 6.5 years. Lynne is a former staff member who's been volunteering for 4 years. Our weekend volunteer, Kirthika, has been with us for 4 years. She sneaks in on Sunday and helps us keep up with shelving recently returned items. Barbara is also a former staff member and has volunteered for 3.5 years. Antonella has been volunteering for 1.5 years. Barbara and Antonella come in during busy courier days to help us shelve holds. Nikhila has been volunteering with us on the weekends for 1.5 years. She is about to head off to college!  Kavitha has been a Programming volunteer for over 2 years! She does a fantastic job of assisting during storytimes and special events. 

All of our volunteers help us keep up with day-to-day tasks such as shelving holds, sorting carts, looking for missing items on Circulation reports, and shelf-reading our collection! For the second year in a row, two of our volunteers, Barbara and Antonella, assisted the Sharon Forks staff while all of our CSAs were training all day! 

It always brings a smile to the staff's faces when they see our volunteers arrive for their shifts. Their hard work and dedication are appreciated by all!

Submitted by Brittany Mayo

Hampton Park Library's crew of volunteers are quite special to us. As the branch with the smallest staff, our volunteers truly make a difference. From being extra hands in puppet shows to making sure books get back on the shelves, we are very thankful for our volunteer's time and dedication. Our group is a mix of newer volunteers and some long-timers, including a former VolunTEEN and a ten-year service recipient! At our Volunteer Appreciation event, it was wonderful to see the conversations and camaraderie. Conversation flowed from asking about what each other was reading and watching to hearing about the life of a high schooler whose AP tests are looming. While everyone has a shared interest in the library, it was nice to learn about our volunteers' other interests and how they are similar or different from each other.

Submitted by Anthony Caspanello

This year Post Road Library hosted the Volunteer Appreciation event in our breakroom so our staff could all join in to celebrate our volunteers. Many of our volunteers have other commitments during the week, so we only had one volunteer attend the event, but we made sure she knows how much her weekly shelving means to us. The beautiful cake and snacks were appreciated by all! 

Submitted by Lorraine Lane:

It was a joy to celebrate with the Denmark Library volunteers! It was such a pleasure to have them together, some of whom had never met one another before. Tsedale, who also helped us ready the library for opening, was eager to learn about volunteer opportunities for her children. Maureen, our youth services volunteer and our longest-standing volunteer, was all smiles as she shared about her time assisting in storytime that day. Marianne, one of our teen volunteers, made a special trip over from Denmark High School just to be a part of the celebration. They all really appreciated receiving the t-shirts. Several Denmark library team members also stopped in to chat. It was a lovely celebration!

Submitted by Jessica Giles:

The Cumming Library held its annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on April 21, providing staff and volunteers, including those from outreach and headquarters, an opportunity to socialize and share food. Abby Hartman reached a five-year volunteering milestone. Bruce Koehler is celebrating his impressive 35 years of service. Both received a small token of appreciation for their service. Though not all of our volunteers could attend, each received a special volunteer shirt. 

Submitted by Cristie Edmondson

The Materials department was delighted to welcome volunteers back this year, taking the opportunity to recognize two individuals for their exceptional commitment and effort. Among them is Trey, who balances his time assisting Materials staff while also serving as a Program support volunteer at the Cumming branch. Joining him is Vaidhegii, a former FCPL staff member whose return has provided invaluable support to the department. We are truly fortunate to have both Trey and Vaidhegii as part of our team.