The West Fargo Public Library is hosting a donation drive during the month of August as part of the metro’s One Book, One Community program. Donations of new, unopened underwear, bras, diapers and socks of all sizes can be dropped off at the West Fargo Public Library until Aug. 30, 2021. All items will be donated to The Indigenous Association – a local organization that supports indigenous people of all ages in the Fargo-Moorhead area. 

“Items like socks and underwear are often overlooked during clothing drives” Kirsten Henagin, Adult Services Manager said. “With Aug. 5 being National Underwear Day, school starting up again soon, and with One Book, One Community starting this month with a focus on celebrating indigenous cultures, it just made sense to collect these items for The Indigenous Association to help them support the community.”  

The library’s underwear drive is starting alongside the One Book, One Community program, which also began Aug. 1. The One Book, One Community program has brought readers from Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo together to read and explore one text and topic together for the past ten years. This year’s book is “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask” by Anton Treuer. 

Copies of the book are available for checkout in several formats at each of the participating libraries. Throughout the fall, metro libraries will host events, speakers and other programs as well as an online reading challenge hosted on Beanstack. People who read the novel or participate in other library events can track their participation on Beanstack to earn tickets to put toward grand prize drawings. Enter the West Fargo Public Library’s Beanstack challenge at westfargolibrary.org/beanstack.

The 2021 One Book, One Community program runs through Oct. 31, 2021, while the West Fargo Public Library’s underwear drive runs only through the month of August. At the close of the underwear drive, the West Fargo Public Library is hosting a public Q&A event with Hollie Mackey, interim executive director of The Indigenous Association, and other board members from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31 at the library. For more information visit westfargolibrary.org.  

Learn more about One Book, One Community at 1book1community.org.