Bonnie's Learning Legacy

Bonnie Veitch White passed away in the care of Hospice on October 4, 2022, at 85. In her absence, we ask for your help to create a legacy of learning in her name that will continue to give to the children of our community at the Camden Public Library.

Bonnie was a wonderful mother, aunt, mother-in-law, and grandmother, both to her own family and anyone she found in need of nurturing, a listening ear, a warm hug, or a kind message. Bonnie was also a lifelong educator. Learning differences and challenges she experienced as a child became a seed of fierce empathy and compassion that would later help her persist in her educational goals and grow into a skilled enabler and advocate for students she worked with later in life. Bonnie received learners warmly, met people where they were, and created a comfort zone where people could build confidence and success. Her love of reading with children - one on one - is a sweet memory she leaves in the hearts of many.

Mike, David and I began raising funds for Bonnie's Learning Legacy through Facebook in October. The $1,900 collected via the FB platform will also be used toward this $6,000 target. We are switching platforms for better access across multiple generations. All donations in Bonnie's name will benefit the Camden Public Library in two concrete ways:

1. To bolster the "Stock the Stacks" program, assisting our library in supplying children and their parents with the books that our mom loved to read, along with those that would be most helpful for the library to continue supporting early childhood education. Books purchased with Bonnie's funds will contain a plaque inside the cover in her memory.

2. To install a soft reading nook in an alcove in the Children's Room, donated in Bonnie's name, that used to hold the puppet theatre.

This will provide a cozy space our mom always seemed to find when reading to children. It includes a simple child-sized “sofa” made of custom-made-to-measure seat and back cushions installed over a built-in storage drawer. Over and around the cushions, a natural-wood tree-inspired book-ledge with mom's name integrated on the trunk or branches will be built onto the walls to feature this or that book of the moment. Washable flower pillows are a simple addition to coziness.

We have set a $4,200 goal which, when added to the previously raised $1,800, allows us to reach a $6,000 target. The reading nook would be completed with some donated materials and reduced labor costs, leaving the bulk of funds raised to purchase books.