TOWN OF LEE — Joseph Maloney said he always feels a sense of physical accomplishment when he’s finished one of his long daily walks.
But what if he could use his favorite activity for keeping fit to help his favorite place to visit: Jervis Public Library?
That was the question Maloney, 54, of 6309 Evergreen Drive, asked himself when he considered using his daily walking routine to raise needed funds to keep the library running. Maloney hopes community members will step up and pledge money for the miles he puts on his sneakers each day.
Anyone who would like to help Maloney raise money can call Jervis at 336-4570, or send donations to the library at 613 N. Washington St. For more information about the library’s budget, or to donate to the library with a credit card, go to www.jervislibrary.org and click on the appropriate buttons at the top of the page.
"That library is a real diamond-in-the-rough, and they’re always being told to do more with less," Maloney said. "When you look around you, you see there are fund-raisers of some sort for almost every cause imaginable. So, I figured, why not walk for a cause? Better yet, why not walk for a cause that is as giving as Jervis Public Library?"
The library faces a gap of more than $45,000 in its operating budget due to cuts in city and county spending plans. Library officials said that a 3 percent raise in funding had been requested for 2009. As a result, the library has eliminated its Sunday hours of operation.
Maloney said he has been an avid walker for at least 7 or 8 years and does so daily to help alleviate his chronic lower-back pain. He has mapped out at least four different routes, in both rural and urban settings throughout the area, completing more than 10 miles almost every day.
"I currently have four different walking routes that include city and country surroundings, sidewalks and road, hills and flatland, and I try to finish each route with the wind at my back," Maloney said. "I walk outside all year ‘round."
Since he was a young boy, Maloney remembers visiting the library for his main source of entertainment. Today he continues to visit Jervis several times a week, borrowing books, CDs, DVDs and audio books.
"While growing up, going to the library was our salvation. We didn’t have a lot of money" to go other places, Maloney recalled. "So I just carried that with me through adulthood. I just know in my heart that the time is right to try and help Jervis as best as I can."
Maloney said it doesn’t matter how much in sponsor donations he receives for his miles walked — that any little bit will help make a difference. However, he said he would like to raise enough money so that the library can reinstate its Sunday hours.
"If you watch customer traffic at Jervis, there’s a brisk increase in visitors and usage in these tough economic times. The irony is that even though there is more volume at Jervis now, funding continues to suffer as budgets are trimmed," he said. "The last straw for me was when the announcement was made to close Jervis on Sundays, effective immediately. I thought, ‘What if I could get pledged financial support in the amount of $28,000 to reverse the policy?’"
Maloney is retired from Agway and works part-time at Rome Memorial Hospital as a courier. He graduated from New School University in New York City, with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management and is close to finishing his master’s degree program at SUNY Binghamton, he said. He lives at home with his wife Sandy of 25 years and son Gavin, a sophomore at Rome Free Academy.
