Posts by Nancy Rubini, Foundation Director

Thank you, 2024 Gala Supporters

Thank you, 2024 Gala Supporters

Thank you to everyone who supported the Foundation’s Gala on May 4, 2024. Your participation helped us raise funds for year-round Library programs for all ages. Special thanks to our Sponsors and Raffle Donors. Click Here to view the Gala Journal slide show and scroll down to see photos from the event. MAJOR SPONSORS: Abrams Fensterman, John & Janet Bailey, Bermello Ajamil Partners, Phyllis Honig, Beth & Gene Kava, LRC Construction LLC, Diane H. Tabakman & David W. Rhodes, Julie & Graham Trelstad BENEFACTOR SPONSORS: Renate & Cormac Daly, Kristine & Steve Holden, Kibo121, Peter & Hela Kindler, The Kass
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May 8, 2024 9:39 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Homepage Foundation, Library Foundation, and Library News.
Tags: 2024 Library Gala, White Plains Library Foundatioin, and White Plains Library Foundation Gala.

5 Decades on Martine

5 Decades on Martine

During the summer of 1974, the White Plains Public Library moved from a brick building on Grand Avenue to its current location at 100 Martine Avenue. Below are some photos from the construction on Martine, the interior in the early 1980s, and an image of the initial White Plains Public Library. The Foundation Gala is the evening of May 4, 2024 and we'll be celebrating the Library's 50 years at its current location! Click HERE to learn more and RSVP.  
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April 30, 2024 10:19 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized.
Tags: 2024 Library Gala, White Plains Library Foundation, and White Plains Library Foundation Gala.

Foundation Gala on May 4, 2024

Foundation Gala on May 4, 2024

Please join us for the Foundation Gala on May 4, 2024, from 7:00-10:00 p.m. at the Library. We'll be celebrating the Library's 50 Years on Martine Avenue! Buffet Dinner – Wine & Beer –  RSVP by April 17. (Journal Ad Deadline extended to April 17, Please email text or jpeg file to foundation@whiteplainslibrary.org.) Funds raised through the Gala support year-round programs for children, teens and adults. BUY TICKETS AND JOURNAL ADS HERE Honoring Rai Fernandez, Partner, Bermello Ajamil Architects With creativity, technical skill, and appreciation for our grand old building, Rai Fernandez and his team have transformed almost all of
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March 1, 2024 10:50 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized.

Fun, Food, and Football

Fun, Food, and Football

Thanks to our community partner, Wolf & Warrior Brewing Company and special guest, WNBC Sports Anchor Bruce Beck, a good time was had by all at the Foundation’s Tailgate Fundraiser on February 4th. In conversation with Board member Jessica Rao Lonski, Bruce Beck spoke with us about trends in sports journalism, Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl, how he prepares for a show, and his commitment to mentoring young people through his Camp. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets!
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February 2, 2024 4:24 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Featured and Library News.
Tags: Bruce Beck, football, superbowl, white plains, White Plains Library Foundation, and Wolf and Warrior Brewing Company.

Fun, Food and Football

Fun, Food and Football

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT!   The White Plains Library Foundation invites you to join us for an afternoon of fun, food and football! Tailgate at Wolf and Warrior Brewing Company Special Guest: BRUCE BECK, WNBC Sports Anchor Sunday, February 4, 2024 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $50 and include a beer or glass of wine and delicious snacks. BUY TICKETS HERE Funds raised through this event support year-round Library programs for children, teens, and adults. We're thrilled that Bruce Beck will be talking with us about Trends in Sports Journalism. If you'd like to submit a question, email
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December 22, 2023 12:16 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized.

The Foundation’s Annual Appeal

The Foundation’s Annual Appeal

If you appreciate the Library, then now is the time to show your support by donating to the Foundation’s Annual Appeal. We count on community contributions to help fund new programs, updated technology, and timely opportunities like events with authors, genealogists, and historians. Have you noticed all the wonderful children’s events with musicians, dancers, magicians, and other performers? These types of interactive programs are funded by the Foundation and your gift ensures they keep happening! Your support also helps expand access to laptops, mobile HotSpots, 3-D printing, coding classes, language resources, craft workshops, and new software including tools for using
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December 19, 2023 11:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Annual Appeal and White Plains Library Foundation.

Foundation Gala

Foundation Gala

The Foundation’s 2023 Gala, Celebrating the Freedom to Read, will take place on Saturday, March 25th, from 7:00-10:00 p.m.  Please join us for dinner followed by a an entertaining program, (finally) together in the Library! The Foundation is honoring White Plains resident Oren J. Teicher, former CEO of the American Booksellers Association, Board member of National Coalition Against Censorship, and 2019 recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. In keeping with the theme, the Foundation is thrilled to welcome special guest Kerri Maher. She’ll be talking with us about her new
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March 1, 2023 10:02 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author events, author events in White Plains, Foundation, Foundation Gala, fundraising, gala, White Plains Library Foundation, and White Plains Library Foundation Gala.

Author Visit with Chris Finan

Author Visit with Chris Finan

Register HERE for a virtual author visit with Chris Finan on September 21st from 7:00- 8:00 p.m. He’ll be talking about his new book, How Free Speech Saved Democracy: The Untold History of How the First Amendment Became an Essential Tool for Securing Liberty and Social Justice. Finan will be interviewed by White Plains resident Oren Teicher, former CEO of the American Booksellers Association. This is the first of many upcoming events in our yearlong celebration of #WPFreedomtoRead. Here’s what author Judy Blume said about the book: “I can't believe we're in the midst of another struggle over what students
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September 10, 2022 12:41 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: #WPFreedomtoRead, banned books, censorship, Chris Finan, free speech, meet the author, virtual author events, and virtual events.

Virtual Author Visit with Frank Bruni

Virtual Author Visit with Frank Bruni

The White Plains Library Foundation is presenting a virtual author visit with bestselling author, journalist, and White Plains native Frank Bruni. He'll be talking about his new book, The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found.  Please join us on Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.  REGISTER HERE. One morning in late 2017, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni woke up with strangely blurred vision. He wondered at first if some goo or gunk had worked its way into his right eye. But this was no fleeting annoyance, no fixable inconvenience. Overnight, a rare stroke had
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April 1, 2022 5:15 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author talks, book discussion, Frank Bruni, meet the author, and virtual author event.

Spring FUNdraiser May 1, 2022

Spring FUNdraiser May 1, 2022

Please join us for the White Plains Library Foundation‘s Spring FUNdraiser BACK IN CIRCULATION! Snacks, Sweets & Stories Sunday, May 1, 2022  3:00 – 5:30 p.m. We're thrilled to partner with STORYBOOM for a lively program featuring storytellers talking about resilience and finally getting back in circulation! Buy Tickets or Become an Event Sponsor HERE  (or mail a check to the address below; please note the names of attendees on your check) Event Co-Chairs: Kristine Holden, Jessica Rao Lonski Location: Congregation Kol Ami, 252 Soundview Avenue White Plains, NY 10606 Space is limited. RSVP by April 22. Proof of vaccination
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March 16, 2022 10:00 am | by | 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized.
Tags: fundraiser, fundraising, spring event, and White Plains Library Foundation.

Author Visit with Anita Hill

Author Visit with Anita Hill

Please join us for a virtual author visit with Anita Hill on Monday, November 1, 7:00–8:00 p.m. She’ll discuss her new book, Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence, a combination of memoir, personal accounts, law, and social analysis. Anita Hill is University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women’s and Gender Studies at Brandeis University. After the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Hill became a leading figure in the fight for women’s rights and against gender-based violence. Believing is a story of America's three decades long reckoning with gender violence, one that
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October 21, 2021 9:58 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Anita Hill, author event in Westchester, author event in White Plains, author visit, and meet the author.

A Conversation with James McBride

A Conversation with James McBride

The White Plains Library Foundation is thrilled to welcome (virtually) award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter, James McBride to discuss his latest novel, Deacon King Kong, named one of the Top Ten Books of 2020 by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and TIME magazine. Please join us on May 4th, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Click HERE to Register* and you'll receive a Zoom link unique to your email. “Shouldn’t we just get it over with and declare McBride this decade’s Great American Novelist?” asked the Los Angeles Times. “McBride has a way of inflating reality to comical sizes, the better for us
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April 15, 2021 11:37 am | by | 3 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: author event, Deacon King Kong, James McBride, library events, and meet the author.

Meet Mara Gay

Meet Mara Gay

Please join us on Sunday, March 21, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. for a conversation with Mara Gay, a New York Times Editorial Board member who writes about politics and New York. She’s also an MSNBC political analyst, appearing regularly to discuss national politics. Before coming to the Times, Mara covered Mayors Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg as a City Hall reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and before that, at the Daily News. In her first job, she was a digital staff editor for The Atlantic Magazine in Washington, D.C. Mara was also a columnist and editorial board writer for
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March 10, 2021 9:00 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Bill Falk, books, Mara Gay, meet the author, New York Times, and NY Times.

Creating or Updating a Will?

Creating or Updating a Will?

These are uncertain times and many of us are wondering if our affairs are in order and if our assets are protected should something happen to us. Please join us on Thursday, November 12 from 12:00–1:00 p.m. for Making a Will? Ten Things You Need to Know. You’ll hear from an expert who has been advising clients (of all income levels) about estate planning for more than 30 years. White Plains attorney Susan Edwards Colson will share the top ten questions she’s being asked about creating or updating a will in today’s world. Whether you’d like some basic suggestions or
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October 21, 2020 11:45 am | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: estate planning, law, lawyer, and will.

Ibram X. Kendi Visit

Ibram X. Kendi Visit

Registration is now closed for this event. The White Plains Library Foundation, in partnership with the Thomas H. Slater Center and with the support of other sponsors, is presenting a special virtual event with the award-winning author, historian, and thought-leader, Ibram X. Kendi on October 28, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. This program will be the highlight of the Library’s city-wide reading initiative, One Book, One White Plains. In the meantime, mark your fall calendars and look into our digital and physical copies of the two books we'll be reading: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (available in
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October 7, 2020 10:01 am | by | 6 Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Antiracism, author talk, author visit, book groups, How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds, and One Book One White Plains.

POSTPONED: 25th Anniversary Gala with Erik Larson

POSTPONED: 25th Anniversary Gala with Erik Larson

March 14th Gala Postponed please click link for details: https://whiteplainslibrary.org/2020/03/march-14th-gala-postponed/ The Gala is now sold out! Thank you to our donors, sponsors, and community partners. The White Plains Library Foundation's 25th Anniversary Gala is Saturday, March 14, 2020 from 7 – 10 p.m. at the Library. Don't miss the chance to hear special guest, Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, The Devil in the White City, and coming soon, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz – book included with your ticket. In recognition of this
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February 6, 2020 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: Churchill, Erik Larson, gala, and white plains.

Meet the 2020 Gala Honorees

Meet the 2020 Gala Honorees

The White Plains Library Foundation is proud to recognize the following honorees at the 25th Anniversary Gala on March 14*. Barbara R. Loucks  Barbara has always worked to better the lives of children, and this passion brought her to the Foundation where she's been involved for more than two decades. She was a key advocate for the Foundation’s first major fundraising initiative, the Trove, and continued to champion a number of improvements at the Library. Her dedicated Board service has provided continuity to its members and leadership. According to Barbara, “our Library is a community builder – a vital asset,
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February 5, 2020 6:14 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized.

Planned Giving

Planned Giving

The White Plains Library Foundation is dedicated to the long term success of the Library and that’s why we hope you’ll provide instructions in your will for a planned gift. Making plans for a future gift creates a legacy for generations to come and helps ensure the Library stays open, responsive and accessible to everyone. Around the country, libraries endure through planned gifts that help them adapt to changing community needs, technological innovations and uncertain economic cycles that can affect government funding. Bequests are the simplest and most common form of planned gift. Residuary bequests are popular because the amount
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February 1, 2020 4:33 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library News.
Tags: donation and planned gifts.

IRA Gifts

IRA Gifts

Making Your Contributions Tax Deductible – A Message from our Treasurer If you're over age 70 ½ and  plan to take the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your IRA account—and you want to get a tax deduction for your charitable contributions—the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) requires that you rethink your tax planning. The TCJA increased the Standard Deduction for married couples to $24,000 ($12,000 for individuals) and limited itemized deductions for real estate and income taxes to $10,000. In practical terms, if you’re married and the total of qualifying mortgage interest plus medical expenses over 7.5% of
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January 31, 2020 3:55 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Library Foundation.

Amazon Smile

Amazon Smile

Attention Amazon shoppers, and who isn’t one? We hope you’ll agree to identify the White Plains Library Foundation when you make purchases on Amazon because it helps us raise money to support the Library. Each quarter, the AmazonSmile Foundation makes donations to eligible charitable organizations by electronic funds transfer. It’s easy to participate and there's no cost. All you need to do is start your shopping at AmazonSmile (not the regular Amazon url) so please consider changing your bookmark. When prompted, enter the White Plains Library Foundation (one time, it will remember you) and whenever you shop, the AmazonSmile Foundation
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August 20, 2018 12:13 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Uncategorized.