JAY — The newly formed Friends of Jay-Niles Memorial Library recently held two paint party fundraisers at the Jay-Niles Memorial Library.

The library recently obtained nonprofit status and has developed the group to assist in fundraising.

Alexis Burbank, a local artist who grew up in Jay and who has worked at Jay-Niles part time for a number of years, ran both paint parties.

Library Director Tamara Hoke said the library is doing everything in its power to maintain its current level of services, but it has less money at its disposal due to a $9,000 decrease in funding from the town of Jay this year.

The money from the paint parties will go toward funding the summer reading programs for the library.

The Friends will be holding a couple of raffles throughout the summer.

One raffle will be for a “Read with Me” basket, featuring a quilt donated by the Country Square Quilters, a group that regularly meets in the library. The basket will also include children’s books, a stuffed animal, mugs and cocoa.

The second raffle will be for a “Curl up with a Good Book” library tote bag with several books, a T-shirt, a pair of knit socks and some other items yet to be determined.

Those interested in joining the Friends group should contact the library at 207-645-4062 or thoke@jaynileslibrary.com.

Summer reading programs

The library holds two summer reading programs during the summer, one for younger children and one for tweens and teens. These programs hope to address what has become known as the “summer slide,” when students lose reading skills they gained the previous year because they don’t read during the summer months.

The programs at the library are filled with activities that promote literacy and keep children reading throughout the summer.

Priscilla Pineau, children’s librarian, and Hoke, library director, are preparing for the start of these programs which will commence shortly after school gets out for the summer. Pineau plans and implements the juvenile program.

The theme for the program is “Spark Your Imagination.” It will include a number of programs that will spark creativity. Weekly planned themes will include Construction, Color Explosion, Be an Engineer, Be Creative and Kitchen Helpers. The kickoff program will be an author visit from Maine author Chris Van Dusen.

The Tween and Teen program will have a “Star Wars” theme and will focus on activities that integrate arts, crafts, language arts, science, creativity and Reader’s Theater. The kickoff for this program will be to watch the first “Star Wars” film and do a couple of light-saber activities. Refreshments will be served.

Some of the themes for the different programs are as follows: Wookiee Crafts, Stitching “Star Wars,” “Star Wars” Art Activities, “Star Wars” Science and Folding and Flying.

All but the final week will have an extra program day on Thursday for “Star Wars” Mad Libs and Reader’s Theater. All sessions of Reader’s Theater except the first session will be led by Emily LaFleur, a student at the University of Vermont who has taken part in many local performances.

The library, donated by the Niles family in North Jay, turns 100 years old this year. Though groundbreaking was in 1916, the library didn’t open until 1918, when all of the equipment and supplies arrived.