The Friends of the Venice Public Library have been awarded the Non-Profit Business of the Year Award by the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce. Several organizations submitted applications for the award including the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota County, Habitat for Humanity and United Way of South Sarasota County.

“The Friends of the Venice Public Library are a very important part of what makes the library so special. They are all volunteers from within our community, from young people to retirees, and they are dedicated to helping provide the best service possible to our customers,” said Ann Hall, manager, Venice Public Library.

The Friends provide financial and volunteer support for library programs, materials and other needs not allocated in the county budget. The Friends bookstore is located inside the Venice Public Library and offers thousands of inexpensive titles from fiction to cookbooks. They also provide a service that delivers library materials to the homebound within the Venice area community.

For more information on the Friend’s of the Venice Public Library, contact the Sarasota County Call Center at 941-861-5000 or visit the Sarasota County library system Web page at www.sclibs.net.