iGive Dog Days Sweepstakes

Giving to charity is good for your heart & soul. Research proves that volunteering has positive health benefits. A 2007 government study found that:

• Volunteering and physical well-being are part of a positive reinforcing cycle.
• Volunteering leads to greater life satisfaction and lower rates of depression.
•  Individuals who volunteer live longer.
• Older volunteers are most likely to receive greater health benefits from volunteering.

Yes! Now I know what to do with my dad!

For those still in the workforce adding volunteering to the busy schedule of kids, home, and work responsibilities can be next to impossible. So instead of time, many give money to the causes closest to their hearts. Unfortunately in the current economic current it is getting more and more difficult to find enough resources to meet our obligations and give to our favorite charities. A nifty company, Igive.com has a solution;  a guilt free way to give while we shop.

I was excited to learn several years ago that  there is a way to give to my favorite charity, the Friends of the Roxbury Twp Library while shopping online.  Igive has teamed up with retailers to donate a portion of your purchase to your favorite charity. Instead of earning miles or hotel points for purchases, I can feel good knowing a percentage of my purchases go to the Friends. It's easier to use too. Instead of going to United's shopping portal, then picking a store for every purchase I want to make; I downloaded an Igive button. If I go to the Barnes & Noble to order the latest Janet Evanovich, an Igive logo pops up recording the transaction. Bam I've donated to the Friends! 

Now they've gone one better with, iGive Dog Days Sweepstakes, the Friends can win a share of a $10,000 grant. Please consider dowloading Igive. Thanks!

I've just published this month's Among Friends

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Among-Friends.html?soid=1104907686970&aid=Z-2Si6SgXLI

Meet the new Library Director

Meet the new Library Director
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Among-Friends.html?soid=1104907686970&aid=O7vWla1lGqQ

Wanted: Volunteers

Small local charities, such as the Friends of the Roxbury Library, rely on volunteers to provide vision and execution of programs and fundraising for the causes they support. Volunteering for your favorite charity can be a wonderful experience.  In today’s busy world, carving out time to volunteer can be challenging, but oh so rewarding.  There are several ways for you to become more involved with the Friends; as you do your spring cleaning, put aside your unwanted gently used books for our upcoming sale. We will begin accepting book donations Thursday April 19^th.

Or do you enjoy browsing our semi-annual book sale tables looking for your next bedside read? It takes a village of volunteers to take the mountain of donated books to make those neatly sorted tables you peruse. Circle March 31^st on your calendar for the Sorter Orientation meeting and join the village.

Another option this summer, murder will be in the air as we partner with the Roxbury Arts Alliance on murder mystery night to celebrate the finale of Adult Summer Reading. We are looking for a murderer, witnesses, detectives as well as behind the scenes helpers. If you have murder on your mind, e-mail us at FriendRoxburyLib@aol.com or post a message on our Facebook page.

Among Friends Feb 2012

It's been awhile since my last post. Here's the first of many 2012 entries. http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Among-Friends.html?soid=1104907686970&aid=I92cnHRIpq0

History Does Matter

My nephew often complains that history is boring, that it isn’t relatable to the present. Tonight I have proof that his hypothesis is wrong. And that the proof involves his family past and present.

Joe Armstrong at
John Armstrong's grave

I’ve had a road block regarding information on my great-great-great grandpa John Armstrong. In my ongoing ancestry quest, I attended a chat tonight on Civil War research tips hoping for someone to help me find more information on John. While I didn’t find a lot of information on John’s individual record, I did find a fascinating book “The Story of the Forty-Eighth, a record of the campaigns of the Forty-Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania veteran volunteer infantry during the four eventful years of it’s service in the war for the preservation of the union” by Joseph Gould. This particular John Armstrong served in the 48^th regiment from 1861 until his death in 1864.
 

The first story that touched me was about the early 1864 furlough of the regiment (pg 156). That trip took the regiment by train from Pittsburgh to Altoona and finally home to Pottsville. What struck me about this trip was the history of these locations for my family. This John came to America from the Isle of Mann in 1838 settling in Pottsville to work as a miner prior to the war.  My 2nd great-grandpa, Michael Armstrong, and his son Edward Lewis also worked the mines until Edward left the area to work on the railroad in Altoona. 

If this was my John Armstrong, he would have left for the war when Michael was 7 and he was dead by the time Michael was 11. He never would have met my great-grandpa Edward or my grandfather or father whom both born in Altoona. He would never know how the tracks he traveled on his last trip home would 87 years later take his great-great grandson on the reverse trip from Altoona to Pittsburgh where my father met my mother.

At this point in time the only facts I know about John’s time in the war are about his final battle at the Spotsylvania Courthouse in May of 1864. Private John Armstrong was wounded by gunshot on May 12^th in Spotsylvania, sent to a backline hospital in Washington DC where he succumbed to his wounds on July 1, 1864. He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

On the day Private John Armstrong was mortally wounded, another soldier Comrade John Morrisey had a premonition he would not survive the day (pgs 178-179). Morrisey turned to his friend Sgt William Wells beseeching him to relay a message to his sister Mary that he died facing the enemy. As the battle commenced, Comrade John Morrisey was shot through the head. During a lull in the battle, Sgt Wells buried his friend.  Later during the war, Sgt Wells was injured and sent to a hospital in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania where John’s sister Mary Morrisey found him. Sgt Wells shared with Mary Morrisey her brother’s last words. This story gave me chills when I realized not only that John Morrisey and Private John Armstrong fought in a battle on the same day that ultimately killed them both, but the hospital where Sgt Wells and Mary Morrisey met was the same hospital where I born... Can anyone say small world.

August Among Friends

I just finished this month's Among Friends e-newsletter. If you're local to Succasunna, I hope you'll stop by the library Saturday and dish books with us.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Among-Friends.html?soid=1104907686970&aid=6NxK1jkxdlI