The good Cornellians can do: Robin Driskel ’79
Robin Driskel '79 was elected president of the board of Aurora Free Library in 2010, in difficult financial times. The only discretionary item in the library budget—book buying—was on the chopping block.
At that time, the Aurora Book Lovers’ Ball was an annual fundraiser to support renovations to the 1899 Tudor building that houses the library. When the board learned that they could take over the ball to raise money for library operations, they were delighted.
In 2012 Robin teamed up with fellow Cornellian Marie Dentes '18 as co-chairs of the ball. Robin says that the co-chairs “had a finger in every pie,” from silent auction set-up, to tracking expenses, to writing post-event thank-yous.
“Our first actions were to hire a dance band, The Destination, to replace the previous more sedate musical group, and to delete the reference to ‘Black Tie’ from the invitation with the goals of appealing to a larger audience.”
The Aurora community responded. When they started, the event had one sponsor and brought in about $6,000 in revenue. By 2025, they had 15 sponsors, 220 attendees, and had quintupled the annual event revenues.
Robin turned over the Aurora Book Lovers’ Ball to new co-chairs in 2026, to focus her attention on another cause dear to her heart.
“I joined the board of the Greater Cayuga SPCA in 2024, and my plan is to create a gala fundraiser, hopefully in spring of 2027!” she says.
Cornellians around the globe are sharing how they do good in communities big and small. Share your own story.
