[Publib] Bank Accounts as SRP Prizes

[Jesse Ephraim]

>A few months ago somebody posted a message 
>on the listserve about how their library had worked 
>with local financial instutions to create savings 
>accounts as prizes for summer reading program participants.

The year before last a local bank donated a $1,000 savings bond as the
grand prize for our SRC drawing.  

We have two levels of prizes.  The first is the set of rewards that
everyone gets as they pass certain touchpoints (every 5 books/hours) up
to 30.  The second is a set of larger prizes that can be won in a series
of drawings.  

Each child that reaches 30 books/hours gets his or her name put in the
hat.  For every five books/hours the child reads above 30, an additional
slip of paper with his or her name gets thrown in.  The more the
children read, the more chances they have to win one of the larger
prizes.  We do the drawings at the end of the SRC.

The savings bond is the largest prize we have had yet, though we always
have several large ones.  McDonald's has donated a very nice Dr. Pepper
mountain bike for the last few years, and Chick-Fil-A donates a LOT of
stuff (big and small).  A lot of other area vendors pitch in, both for
the smaller prizes and the larger ones.

As I recall, we simply approached the bank with the idea, and they
agreed.  You never know what sorts of donations you can get from area
businesses, including those that you wouldn't normally think of
approaching.  A real estate company (as a theoretical example) might be
willing to buy an MP3 player or something in exchange for the exposure -
you never know until you ask.  

Jesse Ephraim

Adult Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main Street, Suite 130
Southlake, TX  76092
(817) 748-8247
jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us