LITTLE VALLEY — A fundraising event to benefit the Memorial Library of Little Valley and the Little Valley Fire Department will take place Saturday, Sept. 7 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Little Valley Park Pool on First Street.

Proceeds from the fundraiser and “quilt raffle” will go toward the renovation of both the library and fire department to repair severe water damage resulting from the flash flood on July 6, when the Little Valley Creek overflowed its banks.

Library Director Linda McCubbin the event will include games and activities for children, food and a hootenanny by Sally Marsh. She said the VFW is doing a chicken barbecue, and the firemen are talking about doing a “Tug-O-War.” The quilt drawing will take place that evening at the VFW where a band will entertain adults.

McCubbin said Marsh donated a beautiful quilt for the raffle that she had made special for the library and the fire department. She said the pictures are past and present scenes in Little Valley that Marsh got from the county museum and recently took herself around town.

According to McCubbin, the flash flood left the floors and walls of both the library and fire department buildings badly damaged but, miraculously, not a single book was lost.

She said the library was officially closed until further notice by disaster personnel on July 8 due to mold infestation.

McCubbin said the community has been very supportive. Over 50 volunteers showed up on July 13 to move over 10,000 books, as well as shelves, chairs and other smaller furniture across the street to the former Little Valley school building.

“It was such a wonderful sight to see the cars lined up on Third Street, waiting to get loaded with books to take over to the school,” she said. “The Cattaraugus Little Valley School District allowed us to put them in the cafeteria and along the hallway.”

McCubbin said the library had to cancel all summer events and activities, including a summer reading program and lunches, with the exception of their “Christmas in July” fundraiser that they held at the municipal building.

“Right now, I’m putting together another summer reading program that will, hopefully, start in the beginning of October, if we are open,” she said. “I’ve asked for two bicycles to give as grand prizes and the Cattaraugus County Youth Foundation has agreed to pay for those.”

McCubbin said skilled volunteers are currently doing the fine drywall work. Then they’ll have to finish pulling up the carpet and totally clean the place so they can paint it. Once it’s painted, they’ll have to rebuild the moldy bases of all the bookshelves. When that’s finished, they’ll fill the shelves back up and clean again, so it’s going to be a few weeks.

“We had to replace carpeting and flooring in two rooms, as well as a desk and a couple of cabinets that were made of particleboard. We also had to replace a couple of shelving units,” she said. “We lost all the flooring, baseboards, drywall, insulation and carpeting, which is very expensive to replace.”

As far as damage estimates go, McCubbin said right now they are looking at about $30,000 instead of the originally quoted $50,000, plus the replacement of the carpeting. She said this is because they’ve done so much of the work themselves. She said the fire department had $70,000 worth of flood damage because the same thing happened to them; the water came in and got in the walls.

According to McCubbin, the library had no flood insurance. She said they are getting some donations from the public, which is wonderful, and they’ve cashed in a couple of certificates of deposits (CDs). They’ve also applied to the National Library Association to receive up to $1,000 from a disaster fund.

“Right now, we’re in the process of finishing up the paperwork to get the last 10-percent from the parking lot grant. We’ve already paid that out of our money, but that money will be put back into us, so we can spend it on the flood repairs,” she said. “And, we were just awarded a grant that we put in for last year for a new roof. We’re also putting in a generator, so we will be a warming and cooling center in Cattaraugus County. This will ensure that we won’t lose power when the area loses electricity, and the internet will still be available to the public.”

Once the library is ready to reopen, they’ll have a Grand Reopening event to celebrate the new parking lot and the library being renovated at the same time.

“We want all of our supporters there,” she said. “The parking lot wouldn’t have been possible without former Senator Catherine Young. She was the one who gave us the money to buy the two houses where we have made the parking lot.”

Because they are doing much of the work themselves, the renovations are taking longer. McCubbin anticipates the library will be ready to reopen sometime in late September or early October.

Once the facility reopens, the hours of operation will be Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon; closed Wednesday and Sunday.

Although the library has no books to lend at this point, McCubbin said the public can still come in to send faxes and make copies, if they wish. She said they can order books for people and have them delivered to the library, then they will call them.

People can stop at the library at 110 Rock City St. and purchase raffle tickets for the quilt that are 3 for $5. They will also be available at the fundraiser at the pool.

For more information, call 938-6301 or visit online at littlevalleylibrary.org and Facebook.

(Contact press reporter Deb Everts at salpressdeb@gmail.com)