PHOTO PROVIDED A mockup of “Shore-opoly,” a Jersey Shore-themed board game benefiting the Jersey Shore Public Library.

JERSEY SHORE — Pass go and collect $30 for the Jersey Shore Public Library!

After a year of hard work, Shore-opoly — a Jersey Shore-themed board game — is set to launch, with 100 percent of the profits benefiting the community’s library.

Confronted with funding challenges, the Board of Trustees at the library has designed a board game that highlights the town’s character, complete with local properties, community-inspired action cards and game tokens.

“They had sold a generic game like this at Walmart about Lock Haven, and I kind of got it in my head that Jersey Shore needs one of these. And so I pitched it to the library, and here we are like a year later,” said Tracy Silvis, an educator at the Jersey Shore Area Middle School and pioneer of the fundraiser.

“We were looking for fundraising ideas for the library, and we were kicking around different ideas and this is one that we started talking about. Then it just really stuck as something we thought would work well and was a really good idea for the community,” added Charlene Brungard, the director at Jersey Shore Public Library.

With limited funding available to support the library’s staff, collections and physical property, the mission of the game is to raise enough money to sustain these essential resources.

“Our funding has not really increased much, if at all, over the last few years. Especially at the state level it’s remained pretty stagnant while our costs continue to go up,” said Brungard. “It’s become really important that we try to find fundraising ideas and efforts that will help us maintain and continue our mission to bring educational, informational, recreational and technological resources to our community.”

Massive budget cuts to the state’s public library system over a decade ago are only now returning to pre-slash levels, which still fall short in today’s economy.

“Of course now we’re facing so many more challenges with the cost of things, and we’ve had to do what most libraries do — you cut back everything you can, and you make do with what you have,” she said, explaining extra funding from grants and support from philanthropic organizations like the Friends of the Jersey Shore Public Library are currently necessary to keep the library operational.

Developed with the help of Cincinnati based company, Late for the Sky: Custom Opoly Games, the cost to design and produce the games has been entirely offset through corporate sponsorships.

Each sponsor received a space on the board, an activity card, game token or name on the box relative to the size of their donation.

Thanks to the outpouring of support received, the entire $30 paid by customers for the game will go toward the library’s operations.

“We tried to tailor (aspects of the game) to things in the community,” Deb Leonard, president of the Jersey Shore Public Library Board of Trustees, said.

The game’s activity cards, “Fair Play Fun” and “Tiadaghton Times,” reference the town’s colonial-era history and feature Jersey Shore-inspired prompts, such as “collect $35 from every player for Santa’s House” or “pay for lunch at D’Agostino’s.”

The board itself is filled with local properties and includes its own references to the school district’s bulldog mascot and a postcard of the Tiadaghton Elm from the Jersey Shore Historical Society.

Silvis noted the customization process was made incredibly easy by Late for the Sky, which provided the team with an Excel sheet to fill out for the content and a graphic designer to compile everything.

“I can’t wait for people to actually be able to see the finished product, and I think they’re going to be so much more excited when they actually see the finished product,” Brungard said, with Silvis adding, “It looks better than I ever imagined it looking.”

The library has ordered 900 copies of Shore-opoly to sell, which are available now for pre-order on their website at www.jsplpa.org/.

Physical copies will be arriving at the library any day now, so be sure to check the library’s Facebook page for updates on their availability. Copies will also be sold at Pine Creek Seed Farm, with plans to expand sales to additional locations throughout the community in the future.

“I think a lot of people think of the library as just a place to get a book, and the library offers so many more things than that. Hopefully (the game) will get people here and get them to see the things that we have to offer,” said Silvis.

Brungard, Leonard and Silvis all expressed their appreciation for everyone who contributed to the project, including committee members Linda Roller, Raye Bierly, Jennifer McCracken and Diane Eck, and their business sponsors: Phil-It-Up Drive In, Gateway Cafe, Jackson Real Estate, McLane Solutions, Clark McLane Construction, Dittmar Fuel Inc., Jersey Shore Moose #214, Buttorff Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning, Entz’s Floor Covering, T.L.C. Fuels, The 308 Martial Arts, D’Agostino’s Pizza and Subs, Susquehanna Transit Co., Susquehanna Trailways, Jersey Shore State Bank, Liberty Book Shop, Friends of the Jersey Shore Library, Crossroads Church, Windecker Enterprises, Chambers Management and Development, Santino’s Italian Cuisine, Shore Diner, The New Love Center, Pine Creek Seed Farm, Eck’s Agway, National Sporting Goods, Crystal Beverage, Your Guardian Angel Preschool and Childcare, Gamble Farm Inn and Suites, Tiadaghton Valley Mall, Old School Salon and Spa, Honey Dippers Septic Service, River Valley Internet, Wayne Township Landfill, Pizza To Go, Independent Hose Co. #1, West Company and Dave and Ruby’s Oak Grove Tavern.

Special thanks were also given to individual and family sponsors, Deb and Dennis Leonard; Kennedy, Henry, Alayna and Asa; The Silvis Family; The Hollick Family; Harold and Debra Eck; Gary and Diane Eck; and Ryleigh, Kennedy, Manama, Kima and Kai Eck

“It’s been a long journey but we are really excited about it,” Silvis said.