It’s that time of year we’ve all been waiting for. Whitman County Library’s annual Food for Fines drive begins Tuesday, February 1 and continues through Monday, February 28 at all fourteen branch locations. This highly successful program allows library patrons to bring in cans or boxes of non-perishable food, household paper products, and toiletry items, and waive up to $10.00 in outstanding library fines.

Donations will be accepted at all branch locations during regular open hours. Each unopened, unexpired item will equate to $1 forgiven in library overdue fines. All collected items will be given to the food bank serving the community where they were collected. During the month of February, many food bank clients receive large heating bills and it’s wonderful that the library’s food drive allows local agencies to put something extra in their grocery box.

Don’t have an overdue library account? The library encourages the public to make contributions even if they don’t have fines or a library account. The items will be used to pay it forward and forgive another person’s fines before being donated to local food banks. Fines will not be forgiven for accounts that have been sent to a collection agency.

Whether you have some fines to clear off your account or just want to support your neighbors and our local food pantries, join us for our Food for Fines drive and drop off your donations at your nearest library branch throughout the month of February. For further details, contact the Colfax Library at (509) 397-4366.