Grow with Me at the Calhoun County Library

            Children grow up so fast. They say their first words, try their first solid foods, and before you know it, they have gotten their first growth spurt. Reading is a big part of your child’s growth, and the Calhoun County Library is getting ready for the upcoming Grow with Me program to celebrate children in our area.

On Saturday, March 29, 2025, we are having our annual spring program, Grow with Me. This event is going to be from 10 AM - 12 PM. Children will enjoy planting their very own tomato plant to take home while local garden club members teach them about the necessities for a plant to survive. Children can also make a pine cone bird feeder and then plant a “Hairy Harry” cup which will grow hair in the coming days. They’ll also leave with a windowsill garden, a bean-in-a-bag to sprout at home, and a free book. While they’re here, they can learn about the parts of a flower, pet baby animals, and enjoy a healthy snack. They can even take a picture with Peter Rabbit! This program highlights how important it is to care for things that grow, including the children themselves!

Spring is when everything starts to bloom and the Calhoun County Library wants to make sure that every child has what they need to grow including books, so mark your calendars and get ready to Grow with Me!

Local Outdoorsman Author Event

            The Calhoun County Library held an author event last week to support a local, well-known outdoorsman and author who has published several books, the latest of which being Local Signs & Wonders: Essays About Belonging to a Place.

Dr. Richard Rankin visited the library on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 5:30 PM. He writes books and articles on cultural history, nature, and hunting. After a long career as a college professor and administrator and an independent school headmaster, Rankin is now serving as the director of the Interlaken Wildlife Center in Cameron, South Carolina. The Interlaken Wildlife Center’s mission is outdoor education and recreation, the promotion of hunting and shooting sports, and wildlife conservation.

An outdoorsman, conservationist, and Presbyterian layman, Dr. Rankin and his family are the sixth generation living on family land in the North Carolina Piedmont. This property was once known as Rankintown. It is a shrinking countryside about twenty miles west of fast-growing Charlotte, North Carolina. Several days a week, Dr. Rankin travels back and forth to his family home in North Carolina and the Interlaken Wildlife Center in Calhoun County to assist with hunts.

Dr. Rankin spoke to a large crowd about his most recent work, Local Signs & Wonders: Essays about Belonging to a Place. This book is a collection of essays describing how attachment to a family homestead creates a sense of wellbeing, fulfillment, and belonging. Within the book, there are stories that represent personal experiences for him. He discussed one of these essays with us: “Wondering about the Wart Doctor,” and its topic was exactly that! The essay told about a mysterious wart healer who went to. Dr. Rankin’s father, a highly respected family doctor in their hometown. Back then, when people came in with a wart, his father gave them two options: have him cut it open, get a scar, and pay a fee or go to this magic wart doctor for the removal.

Once, Rankin got a wart himself, and his father refused to remove it. He was sent to this mysterious wart healer, and the essay tells the rest of the story. We are not going to give away the ending, so you will have to come to the library and check out your own copy of Local Signs and Wonders: Essays about Belonging to a Place.

We would like to thank everyone who came to meet Dr. Richard Rankin. We had a great crowd of people who knew him, knew the Interlaken Wildlife Center, and knew that Southern stories are some of the best. We are happy that we came together and supported this local author!

Crafty, Busy Bees

            Calhoun County is the home of many talented, crafty people and the Calhoun County Library has dedicated a program to bring them together twice a month.

Bee Creative is a program where you can come and enjoy practicing your craft. We make quilts, create felt plushies, design custom fabric wallets, and much more. However, if these projects aren’t your style, bring what you would like to do! We have had patrons make jewelry, paint, and even work on their writing skills. Bee Creative is about practicing any fun hobby in a social setting along with other crafters. If you’ve never been to a Bee Creative program, imagine walking into a friend’s house, sitting down, working with your hands, and talking about whatever is on your mind. How relaxing and productive does that sound?

Bee Creative meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month from 5 PM to 7 PM. This is an all-ages program, so don’t think it’s only for grandmas who want to knit scarves (even though we might be knitting scarves!). We have a variety of regulars and we would love to have more regulars join us.

Check out our schedule for upcoming group projects:

March 11 -  Sewing Irish chain quilts

March 25 - Painting Easter eggs

*April 8 - Creating sun clocks (see information below)

April 22 - Designing fabric coasters

May 13 and 27 - Making reusable heating pads with slipcovers

*We will make a sun clock in Bee Creative on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at 5 PM. Lesa Rice-Jackson will lead this interactive STEM program. You must register for this program. Call us at 803-874-3389 to reserve a seat in this class by 8 PM on Tuesday, March 25, 2025.

Depending on necessary supplies, we will occasionally have classes that require registration, but we will always give you time and opportunities to register for a seat. Most of our classes, however, do not require registration. Just come and enjoy crafting, sewing, and spending time together!

If you have a project in the works and would like some advice, or just fellowship, come join us. We would love to have you become crafty with us. We hope to see you soon!

Teen Outreach Programs

            The Calhoun County Library has many outreach programs available to children and we would like to highlight two of them.

            STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. We like to take this program to the afterschool centers around our community. This allows us to keep those students busy while also allowing them to learn through hands-on experiments. One of the last projects we took to the schools was making their own catapults with rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and cotton balls. We don’t want to give too much away about this project because we would love for the kids to show you what they have learned with us. We do want to give a huge shout out to Dr. Lesa Rice-Jackson and Laura Hair, from 4-H, for helping out. They each attend a STEM program to assist with making sure these kids get a fun way of learning after school and get to see some cool, messy, and sometimes tasty experiments. So, if your child goes to an afterschool program in Calhoun County, ask them about STEM with the library ladies.

            In addition to STEM, we also hold an age-exclusive program for teenagers, called Teen Night. This program takes place on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month, from 5 PM to 6:30 PM, and is only for 12 - 17-year-olds. This program gives teenagers from all different backgrounds and school systems a chance to mingle and come together for some fun and engagement. Sometimes, we play games, watch movies, do crafts, and learn life skills, and we are even entertaining the idea of having a Jiu Jitsu night for Teen Night. We always have good food - brownies and milk, pizza, hot dogs, pancakes - so come join us for a good time at Teen Night!

            The Calhoun County Library realizes how important it is to keep children and teenagers interested in the library and we want everyone to have fun with us. We surely have fun with our community kids every month.

Local Author Dr. Richard Rankin Speaks

            Calhoun County has many local authors and the Calhoun County Library is hosting one such author for an event at the end of February.

            Dr. Richard Rankin has a long career as a college professor, administrator, and headmaster. He is the sixth generation living on family land in the North Carolina Piedmont and serves as the director of the Interlaken Wildlife Center in Cameron, South Carolina. Dr. Rankin specializes in cultural history, nature, and hunting. With an interest in those areas, it comes as no surprise that Dr. Rankin is also an outdoorsman and conservationist. That is just one reason why he has written a book about his experiences and thoughts concerning the outdoors. Local Signs & Wonders: Essays about Belonging to a Place is his newest work and Dr. Rankin will be talking about it, entertaining questions, and also giving audience members an opportunity to purchase the book during our “Meet the Author” event. The book is an “essay collection describing how attachment to a family homestead creates a sense of wellbeing, fulfillment, and belonging. As a whole, the pieces reveal how a settled inhabitant's personal identity grows from a local landscape and its history and culture” (taken from Mercer University Press summary).

            This event will take place on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM. We invite everyone to come show your support for a local author. Come listen to Dr. Richard Rankin speak about his book, buy a copy for yourself, and get inspired reading the words of someone from our community. Join us on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, beginning at 5:30 PM!

Special Services at the Library

            We frequently hear people say, “I didn’t know the library could do that!” The truth is, the Calhoun County Library offers a variety of resources to the community at little to no cost. Three services that are available are assisting with passport applications, notarizing documents, and Book a Librarian.

Vacation time is coming up and if you plan to go out of the country, you will need to have a passport. Did you know that we take passport applications? We can help you out! Keep in mind that Passport applications are taken by appointment only, so please call ahead. Patrons can check out travel.state.gov for fees and forms. Our location does not take photos, but you can go to Wal-Mart, Walgreens, or CVS to purchase your photos. Some of the items you will need are your long-form birth certificate with the state seal, official photo ID, and passport photos. The Calhoun County Library has multiple staff members who are passport agents. Again, make sure to call and make an appointment as we do not take walk-ins.

In addition to assisting with passports, there are multiple staff members who are notaries and will notarize your important documents. This includes marriage certificates, wills and testaments, and other important documents. This is a free service to the public. Note: Please don’t sign the form to be notarized until you are in the presence of the notary. Make sure you have your official ID with the documents you need to have notarized. Walk-ins are welcome, but we advise to call ahead to make sure a notary is available.

Summer is around the corner and that means it is getting closer to finding a summer job. Need help filling out a job application or writing a resume? Don’t know how to use some of the features on your new phone or laptop? Call the library and Book a Librarian. You can have access to a staff member for up to one hour free of charge. This service does require that you call and make an appointment. We’re here to help!

For more information about these services, patrons can call the library for information at 803-874-3389.

CCL Bookmobile is Out and About in Town

            Did you know that our Bookmobile is extremely active in our community? We visit so many different places and offer more than checking out books!

One of our monthly visits is Calhoun County Council on Aging (CCCOA) which is a county agency that provides programs and services to promote the well-being of aging persons residing in Calhoun County, SC. Its purpose is to help them maintain their independence, function to the best of their ability, and to inform them of resources, activities, and opportunities available in the community. The Calhoun County Library likes to visit Council on Aging on the second Monday of every month. Participants board the Bookmobile and choose reading materials from various options offered. Our library staff members go inside and visit with participants and even conduct a STEM activity with them every other month. Community members love getting active through STEM activities such as stacking cups with rubber bands as a team and making ice cream in a bag along with making crafts and playing games to keep our minds sharp. We look forward to our visits at the Council on Aging every month.

Another regular stop for the Bookmobile is the Gressette Center. They provide individualized community based residential, employment, and support services which promote independence, dignity, and community integration for persons with developmental disabilities and special needs. Our Bookmobile visits them on the first Wednesday of the month, and we offer books and magazines to community members at the Gressette Center. They love checking out magazines and looking at the pictures, and we love visiting with them!

When we’re not stopping at either of the spots mentioned before, we’re taking the bookmobile to local places such as Rose of Sharon School, Early Learning Academy, OCAB/ Headstart, Press Academy after-school center, Foundation Christian School, and Beulah after-school center. We engage children with STEM activities, story times, and more.

We enjoy interacting with our community. There’s nothing better than giving someone a book, magazine, movie, or other library materials and watching their faces light up, or watching a child doing a STEM experiment and realizing he’s just created a chemical reaction! We also offer home deliveries to qualified patrons. Our outreach department is now doing home deliveries on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month which is a change from previous days.

Don’t forget to celebrate National Bookmobile Day and National Library Outreach Day on Wednesday, April 16, 2025! We know it’s a few months away, but we like to celebrate the Calhoun County Library’s outreach every day and that day will just be even more special!

So, next time you see our bookmobile out and about, give us a friendly wave and know that we are going to support our community!

Reading New Year’s Resolutions

            Happy New Year, everyone! It’s 2025 and the Calhoun County Library would like to help you with your New Year’s resolutions. Come join our programs that feature exercising, learning skills, and playing games.

            Did you know that the library is the perfect place to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions? If you have made a commitment to exercise more, join our fitness classes! We have two classes that will get you moving. Yoga meets every Monday from 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM. In this class, you will focus on your breathing and relax your body. Yoga class is $2 a class or $7 for the month. We also have Strong & Limber which meets every Tuesday and Friday from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM. In this class, you stretch and learn to balance. Strong & Limber is $2 a class or $14 for the month.

            Would you like to find out how Yoga poses help your  body move, you can Google it - unless your computer skills are rusty. If you need to refresh your computer skills or learn from scratch how to use a computer, then head to the library every Wednesday from 3 PM - 5 PM for our Adult Computer Class. Do you need to make an email account? We can help! Do you want to write a resume or story? We can help! Do you want to start a project but need to design it? We can help! This class is self-paced and completely free to attend every week. The best part is, unlike school, if you miss a class, you won’t be behind! Come learn some new skills or even refresh the computer skills you already have with us.

            If you aren’t interested in fitness or you are already good with a computer, head to the library to play BINGO and have some fun and win great prizes! BINGO meets on the first Thursday of every month from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM. If you think you have what it takes to win, come play BINGO. We play 5 rounds, each one with a different strategy. Every win gets a special prize and the grand prize gift card goes to whomever gets blackout on their card. We have given out Piggly Wiggly, Amazon, and VISA cards for our winners so come play  with us!

             Do you know what else you can do at the library? How about reading some great books? If you made a resolution to read more this year, the library is open for you to come pick out anything you would like!  If you’d prefer to stay at home, you can use the Libby App to choose your books online. We all know that reading opens up a world of possibilities, so open a book and enjoy the adventure.

            We love that our community comes together for special events and we want to make sure everyone knows what we have to offer throughout the year. Whether you want to be social or not, we have something for everyone here at the Calhoun County Library. If you haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions yet, there is still time! The library will be here waiting to support you!

Christmas with the Calhoun County Library

             Santa Claus visited the Calhoun County Library during the Cookies with Santa event last week.

Cookies with Santa was held on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, from 3:30 PM - 6:30 PM and we had over 200 people come to celebrate this holiday season. We started the event with Santa flying in on his reindeer, bells ringing as he walked into the library, since we don’t have a chimney to come down! Santa was happy to take pictures and listen to what every boy and girl wanted for Christmas, but he already knew since he has read so many letters lately! Between taking pictures with Santa, we had bunches of craft stations ready to make stuff like ornaments for your trees and paper reindeer. Of course, we couldn’t have an event without snacks so we had treat bags of cookies and fresh hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles! That wasn’t the end of the event though. The fun didn’t stop there.

Porkchop Productions performed at 5 PM with their play “Holly and the Secret Santa.” Holly, one of our favorite elves, was putting together a secret Santa party and guess who she pulled to buy a gift for: Santa himself! She then had to figure out the best gift to get him. We don’t want to give too much away, but we do want to say that the play was really funny and gave all the viewers a very special message. It doesn’t matter what gift you give to someone or how much the gift costs as long as you gave it with love and put thought behind it. Porkchop Productions always put on a great show and give even greater life lessons that we want everyone in our community to remember.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit us during Cookies with Santa. We hope that everyone had a great time both at the event and with family and friends over the holidays. Next time you read an article from us, it will be 2025!

A Calhoun County Library Grinch Christmas

            The Calhoun County Library has started to celebrate the holiday season and a special guest has been causing a ruckus: a green creature with a small, cold heart. Can you guess who that is? Let us tell you about him and his chaos!

            The first appearance made by the Grinch was during our monthly BINGO program. On Thursday, December 5, 2024, from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM, we carried on with our normal program. We were playing traditional BINGO, four corners, and even planning on playing blackout when a hairy, green body came strolling in! Mr. Grinch was trying to call out the numbers on the balls, but he was also trying to steal all the prizes for himself. Don’t worry. We made sure all the winners got their prizes that they rightfully won! Be sure to join us for the next BINGO program on Thursday, January 2, 2025, from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM to see if you can win the grand prize!⁠ We hope that we won’t have the Grinch trying to get those presents for himself.

            A few days later, the Grinch was spotted at the St. Matthews Christmas parade on Saturday. The Calhoun County Library’s Bookmobile got lights hooked up and joined in with Christmas music playing from the speakers and the evil Grinch was there to get some attention! He first gave out some candy canes and when he ran out, the Grinch may have tried to take the parade watchers’ candy. He wasn’t successful in his mission, but it was still so much fun seeing all the smiling and laughing faces. If you missed the parade, there is another chance to see the Bookmobile and the Grinch. Join us on Saturday, December 21, 2024, at 10 AM for the Sandy Run Christmas parade!

            The Grinch has been the star of the show lately during some of the Calhoun County Library’s programs. Each appearance has him growing nicer and his love of reading even bigger. If you see the Grinch around the library, make sure to tell him that you love reading, too!

Holidays at the Library

            The holiday season is upon us and the Calhoun County Library is ready to celebrate with you. The Friends of the Calhoun County Library are hosting another special book sale this week that you do not want to miss and the following week is the Calhoun County Library’s annual Christmas event: Cookies with Santa and Porkchop Productions!

The holidays are right around the corner and buying gifts can be a difficult task. Do you know what makes great presents? Books! The Friends of the Calhoun County Library have tons of books that they want you to put on your shelves or give to a loved one. There are books for everyone! The library has made room on its shelves for new books, so there are tons of books to choose from at the Friends Book Sale. They have all genres, sizes, and even large print, too! The best part is the price! You might even find the hard-to-find book you have been looking for. There may even be some DVDs for sale. You have to come check it out to find out!

The Friends Winter Book Sale will be on:

Thursday, December 12, 2024, from 4 PM - 7:30 PM

Friday, December 13, 2024, from 10 AM - 4:30 PM

Saturday, December 14, 2024, from 10 AM - 2:30 PM

On Saturday, from 12 PM - 2 PM, you can fill a bag for only $5. Come find out how many books you can fit in the bag and get a great price for some excellent reads. And we’re adding a little EXTRA SPECIAL SURPRISE in the month of December! In order to show our support for our local schools: if you are a TEACHER, all books are only 10 cents! This includes the Friends regular book sale on Tuesdays from 2 PM - 5 PM and the above dates for the Friends Winter Book Sale.

If you are looking to volunteer somewhere for the holidays, we would love to have you help with this sale! As a thank you for helping, you will get paid in books ($10 of books per hour worked). If you are interested in this opportunity, please call the library at 803-874-3390 or email FOCCL17@gmail.com.

These sales and your help support the Calhoun County Library. We appreciate all your support and hope to see you all find some great reads during the sale! Don’t forget - the library will be open for you to check out books, use the computers, and get help during the sale.

That’s not the end of the Christmas celebrations at the Calhoun County Library! Join us on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, for Cookies with Santa at the library from 3:30 PM - 6:30 PM. There will be plenty of delicious cookies and warm hot chocolate to go around for all ages.

We will also have two very special guests to make this event perfect. Come take pictures with Santa! He will be here to bounce you on his knee, listen to what you want for Christmas (even though he already knows), and get a smiling picture to share with all your friends and family. The second special guest is a Calhoun County favorite: Porkchop Productions! They will be here to perform a holiday play for everyone at 5 PM so you do not want to be late! You do not need to reserve a spot for this play, but you might want to get here early to have the best seats in the house.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Cookies with Santa. Make sure to wear your Christmas apparel for your pictures, get a great snack, and see an entertaining performance by a wonderful group of people!

This is the time of the year that is full of cheer, thanks, and happiness. The Calhoun County Library appreciates all community members who spend their time at the library and want to celebrate the holidays with us!

A Thankful Teen Thanksgiving at the Library

            The Calhoun County Library held a Thanksgiving Feast for Teen Night last week and gave them a lesson in table etiquette and manners.

Sometimes, when you sit down at a table full of delicious food, the first thing you want to do is dig in! However, on Tuesday, November 19, our teens had to wait and follow a certain protocol using table manners. As they entered “la biblioteca ristorante,” they were greeted by two hostesses.  We decided that we would complete the meal with light piano music to really set the scene. Before their meal, these teens learned the details of the table setting including which fork was the salad fork, which fork was the dinner fork, and where the dessert utensils were placed. They learned a few guidelines like how to properly cut meat, where to put your napkin, what the bread plate is for, and why you have two glasses. Along with that information, they learned not to put their elbows on the table, not to chew with their mouths open, and how to politely ask someone to pass items on the table. During the meal, the teens learned how to have appropriate conversations, such as what they would like to do after completing school and what their hobbies include, as if they were preparing to speak to a date’s parents. Some of these conversations were ones that the teens came up with themselves and some were suggestions that they pulled from a conversation starter cup.

 The teens were seated at a beautifully set table and had a great Thanksgiving feast full of yummy food, great conversations, and interesting facts. We don’t want to make anyone hungry, but we had some excellent mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls, Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, and more. To top off their meals, teens enjoyed pecan, lemon, cherry, or apple pies. We realized that we all have much to be thankful for, especially our wonderful community of St. Matthews!

If you or someone you know are between the ages of 12 - 17, we would love to have you for the December Teen Nights! On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, we will be making Christmas ornaments. These will be from 5 PM - 6:30 PM.

In the meantime, we hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and starts to get in the holiday spirit! We hope to see you at Cookies with Santa on Tuesday, December 17, 2024!

Santa is Coming to the Library

            The holiday season is among us and the Calhoun County Library is getting ready to hold its annual Christmas celebration event: Cookies with Santa and Porkchop Productions!

In order for everyone to see Santa, we have decided to have this event a little bit earlier this year. Join us on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 for Cookies with Santa at the library from 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM. with Porkchop performing at 5:00. There will be plenty of delicious cookies and warm hot chocolate to go around for all ages.

We will also have two very special guests to make this event perfect. Come take pictures with Santa! He will be here to bounce you on his knee, listen to what you want for Christmas (even though he already knows), and get a smiling picture to share with all your friends and family. The second special guest is a Calhoun County favorite: Porkchop Productions! They will be here to perform a holiday play for everyone at 5 PM so you do not want to be late! You do not need to reserve a spot for this play, but you might want to get here early to have the best seats in the house.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Cookies with Santa. Make sure to dress nice for your pictures, get a great snack, and see a funny performance by a wonderful group of people!