Bruce County Public Library is allowing patrons to pay off their late fines by bringing in food donations.
Until December 11th, the library says that if you have a fine on your account, you can pay it off by donating to food banks in the county.
For each non-perishable, unexpired food item, they’ll take $5 off your account balance.
They’ve been running this program for the past seven years, and last year, each item only forgave $2 off a balance.
Library Director Brooke McLean says, “We did increase the amount that each food item would remove in fines, recognizing that over the last seven years, prices have continued to go up, and so we wanted to be able to reflect that.”
She also says that you can drop off non-perishable food donations at any of the library’s 17 branches if you want to donate, but don’t have a fine on your account.
“We’re really hopeful that people will take the opportunity over the next couple of weeks to visit their library branch and bring in some donations. You don’t have to owe fines if you just want to donate,” McLean adds.
Last year, the library collected over 180 donations, and they hope to exceed that this year.
The library makes sure that food donations are given to local food banks, to be distributed to those in need.
