Online fundraiser set up for Barker library
GoFundMe: This photo from Sunday night shows the smoky ruins of the Barker Public Library and also the Barker village offices.
BARKER – An online fundraiser has been established to raise money for the Barker Public Library, which was destroyed in a fire on Sunday night.
The library and the village offices, which share a building, are a total loss from a fire that broke out just before midnight.
“Our beloved Barker Public Library burned to the ground last night,” Julie Obermiller write on a GoFundMe on Monday. “It was a monument to what a community can accomplish, and we are feeling helpless and lost. Our Children’s Room was the result of hard work and determination by the community and was our pride and joy.”
The village offices are temporarily at the police station. Barker library patrons are urged to use other libraries in the three-county Nioga system. The Barker library is working to have a bookdrop set up in the community.
“Whatever else happens in the rebuilding, there will be so much to replace so we are starting here,” Obermiller said. “All funds will go toward the project as needed. We also lost our Barker Village Hall and our historic train station. As we reel from the shock, let’s add a note of hope by showing how much our little library meant to us!”
