For two weeks forgetful book lovers paid their fines and supported Steinbach Community Christmas at the same time. Librarians collected $600.00 in late fees and donated it all to South East Helping Hands.  Head Librarian Loraine Trudeau says she is thankful for the patrons' generosity.

"All fines that were collected for two weeks were generously donated to the Christmas hampers. Not only did we gather some fines, but we had some patrons who were very generous and made a contribution towards this great cause and we were able to collect $600.00. An awesome experience to be apart of this."

She notes that some people even kept their fines in their account until the donation option came around.

"We actually had some patrons who said, 'I know I have a fine but I'm going to wait until the community Christmas hamper project comes along and I'm going to pay my fine at that time. So we had  few that did that and it was funny to see it sitting in their account waiting to be paid up."

Trudeau notes that next year they hope to exceed $600.00.