Friends of Library raise $35,000 for graduate assistantships

The Winston-Salem State Friends of the Library event raised more than $35,000 at its 25th anniversary event Nov. 2.
WSSU Friends of the Library is an annual event created to fund two full-time graduate assistantships at C.G. O’Kelly Library.
The more than 300 people in attendance were Friends, other non-profit groups, and local businesses at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Fellowship Hall.
Friends of the Library was started in 1985 to supplement funds for the library to ensure that services such as graduate programs and research activities
increase.
Tickets were $50 for adults and $25 for student; 400 tickets were purchased.
Three contribution options were available for attendees: the Friends of the Library General Fund; the Faustina L. Holman Assistantship; and the Gerald L. Pauling Sr. Assistantship.
One of the assistantships will go to Bobby Garcia a graduate student from Wilson, N.C.
Garcia is pursuing a master’s
degree in WSSU’s teaching
program.
He is a graduate of East Carolina University.
He has been working at C.G. O’Kelly since September 2011 in Information Commons, assisting students with media and research projects.
The other assistantship was given to Brenda Smith, from Brooklyn.
She is pursuing a master’s degree in WSSU’s education program.
Smith, a 2011 graduate from the University has been working
in the library for a year in the archives department.
Entertainment at the event included spoken word poetry, members of the Divine Dance Institute troupe, R&B and gospel singers, and members of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Cultural dance group.
None of the money raised from the event was profited by C.G. O’Kelly Library or the University said Tasmin Washington, administrative support specialist for Library Services.