Ventura County Library, in partnership with FOOD Share Ventura County, held a Food for Fines week February 10 – 16, 2019. The Food for Fines fine amnesty program collected 3,477 pounds of food for the needy and forgave $3,935 in library fines and fees.
VENTURA COUNTY — The Food for Fines program encouraged customers to return overdue items along with canned food donations. This allowed customers to have fines reduced or eliminated while contributing to a worthy, local cause. Customers with existing overdue charges could also pay down fines with food donations. One can of food equaled one dollar of fines waived.
One in six people in Ventura County struggle with food insecurity. Ventura County Library customers’ Food for Fines canned food donations were turned over to FOOD Share Ventura County to help combat this statistic and provide food to needy members in the community.
Nancy Schram, Ventura County Library Director says, “Through a great partnership with FOOD Share Ventura County, the Ventura County Library was able to raise 3,477 pounds of food for families in need in the county, recover library items that had been presumed lost that can now go back into the collections, and remove barriers to key library services for numerous people so they can once again use the library. We are appreciative to everyone who contributed.”
Library fines account for less than 1% of the Library’s overall revenue. In addition to putting barriers in place for people who need to use library services, when looking at library fines, studies have shown that more is spent in staff time to process fines, and to replace materials that are never returned because people owe overdue fines on them.
Ventura County Library:
Inspiring our community to explore, discover and connect.
The Ventura County Library is available 24/7 at www.vencolibrary.org.
FOOD Share Ventura County is available at: https://foodshare.com/
Ventura County Library has 12 locations across the County:
El Rio Branch:
- Albert H. Soliz Library, 2820 Jourdan Street, Oxnard, CA 93036
Heritage Valley branches:
- Fillmore Library, 502 2nd Street, Fillmore, CA 93015
- Piru Library, 3811 Center Street, Piru, CA 93040
Oak Park branch:
- Oak Park Library, 899 North Kanan Road, Oak Park, CA 91377
Ojai Valley region branches:
- Meiners Oaks Library, 114 North Padre Juan, Ojai, CA 93023
- Oak View Library, 555 Mahoney Avenue, Oak View, CA 93022
- Ojai Library, 111 East Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA 93023
Port Hueneme branch:
- Ray D. Prueter Library, 510 Park Avenue, Port Hueneme, CA 93041
Ventura region branches:
- Avenue Library, 606 North Ventura Avenue, Ventura, CA 93001
- E.P. Foster Library, 651 East Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001
- Hill Road Library, 1070 S. Hill Road, Ventura, CA 93003
- Saticoy Library, 1292 Los Angeles Avenue, Ventura, CA 93004
See our hours of service at https://www.vencolibrary.org/locations