Diana Farnsworth is the fabulously blue-haired face of the teen library program here in Anacortes, and she’s in need of some help from her community. Diana has worked at the Anacortes Public Library for 10 years. In that time she created community outreach programs, worked with schools to make sure our students had access to public library services, and fought to create a brand new space just for teens. A month after that new space opened, Diana’s job was cut by the city budget. With just a week’s notice, she finds herself out of work and within a month she will not have life-saving health insurance. Diana has an auto-immune disease that has required multiple surgeries and expensive medication to keep her in remission. Without health insurance it will be a struggle to pay for these life-saving medications. Diana has spent ten years giving to this community, especially our teens. Since most jobs won’t be hiring until after the holidays, she could use help from the community she has given so much to. If you are willing to help her make it through the next few months of paying for her own medications and procedures, please consider donating to this campaign or reaching out to Diana.

For her full story please continue reading:

Ten years ago, when Diana first began her work at the Anacortes Public Library, she knew she needed to go to school to be a librarian so she could make an impact with the most neglected group in our community- our teenagers. Two years later, after going to school and working full time, Diana became a librarian at the public library, working with teens and advocating for a teen librarian position to exist. In that time she:

Last but not least, for the past ten years, Diana has worked to create a safe space for teens to gather in our community. After working with teens for years to show that an individual space for teens in the library was needed, inviting community members to invest in it, and spending the last year getting it ready, being let go a month after the opening of the new teen space has been devastating.

However, for Diana, this has been more than losing her dream job. It is also her lifeline for staying in remission. Before working for the city and having health insurance, Diana had multiple life-saving surgeries, and she is still paying off that medical debt. Since then, her health insurance from working at the library has allowed her to stay on medications and get procedures that have kept her in remission for the past ten years. Before that she was in and out of the ER at Island Health for years, because without advanced autoimmune suppressants her body attacks itself. These medications cost thousands of dollars a month depending on which insurances will approve, which many won't. So besides needing a job to pay to live, Diana needs insurance to keep living at all.

Diana’s insurance will only last until December. Since she only had a month’s notice from the city, there’s not much she can do about her insurance needs before the end of the year. Despite having money set aside for procedures in December, her FSA funds end in November, so she won’t be able to pay for those procedures without paying an additional few thousand dollars. She won’t know her insurance options until she’s off the city plan. She is hoping new insurance will be available through Apple Health, but is concerned about the continuation of her medications.

Diana found out she was losing her job and had her last day less than a week later. Although she's paid until the end of the month, in addition to medical costs she has work that was already started to repair her home that have to be completed for safety reasons.

Librarian jobs are being cut everywhere, especially for those who work with teens. Diana is actively looking for jobs, but needs a job with health insurance. Diana also feels a strong connection to this community and wants to stay in Anacortes. She will likely also need a newer car to commute to any job that allows her to continue living here, because she'd planned to be in Anacortes for her career. Diana's family is here, including a network of dear friends, and her beloved nephews. She volunteers with the AHS Creative Writing Club, the Anacortes Community Theatre, and also serves on the Anacortes School Board.

“Working with teens is my priority, and it’s going to be what I try to do first, because it’s what I’ve spent the past ten years doing. Being a teen librarian meant getting to know teens and asking them what they wanted. It meant working to get to know their teachers and parents so I could meet their needs better. It meant learning as much as I could about mental health and career readiness and pop culture. It meant always asking the adults in the room what the kids actually wanted. Daily It meant helping with job, college, and scholarship applications. It meant going over SAT prep questions and reviewing papers for school. But most of all it meant showing up and listening to actually demonstrate that someone cared outside of school and was available to help when they needed it. I will try to find a way to keep doing this as a school board member as long as I can stay here.”