How far are the Friends of the Hamlin Library willing to go to fundraise for their new library? Pretty deep, if one considers they were willing to dig through mounds of Hilton Apple Fest garbage in search of nickels.

The Hamlin Friends were hired by the Hilton Apple Fest Committee to provide clean-up duties during the two-day festival. Clean-up included policing the grounds and neighboring streets for litter, removing full garbage bags from cans, and wiping down tables in the food court area.

For these services, the Hamlin Friends were paid a fee of $850 plus the revenue from the return of empty pop cans and bottles. Separate recycling containers were placed strategically around the festival, and the Hamlin volunteers kept those bins emptied too, but human nature led to many nickel-return cans being thrown in the regular garbage, also.

So the 36 Hamlin Friends who put in a total of 277 hours over the Apple Fest weekend decided to dig a little deeper to raise money for their library.

"We reached in up to our shoulders in each garbage can, then we dumped," said Volunteer Lori Moses. The effort ended up paying off – the group collected over 21,000 cans, the most ever redeemed from the Apple Fest, earning an additional $1,058 for the library.

At one point during the festival a can-thief tried to make off with two bags of empty cans but festival security chased the person down and brought back the two bags.

"We’re a small group, but we’re enthusiastic," Moses said.

That enthusiasm keeps paying off. The Hilton Apple Fest, which donates proceeds from the festival to worthy causes each year, is planning to donate a new computer and printer, worth about $1,000, to the Hamlin library. That set-up will give Hamlin library patrons a station for word processing.

The Hamlin Friends also hold more traditional types of fundraisers, like spaghetti dinners and book sales. And they’re always looking for new members to add to their ranks. Anyone interested in helping out (no, being willing to pick through garbage is not a prerequisite, Moses said) should call membership chair Betty Erdmann at 659-8463 or president Nancy Jennejahn at 964-8112.