DOWAGIAC — Those who have racked up late fees at the Dowagiac District Library will have a chance to have those debts forgiven, thanks to a program running throughout the month of July.

Throughout the month, the Dowagiac District Library will host a Food for Fines program, where people can bring unopened, non-expired, nonperishable food items into the library to clear fines they have with the library. Each item brought in will clear $1 in fines. Ten food items will clear all fines with the library. Library items must be returned before fines can be cleared. The items collected from the Food for Fines program will be donated to area food pantries and nonprofit organizations.

“This is a good way to get people into the library that may have been avoiding it due to fines,” said Director Matt Weston. “It’s also a great way to give back to the community and also recover some of our items and books.”

Weston also said that the program is a great way for the library to be involved in the community and make sure that those in need are able to get the things that they need. Popular food items requested by food banks include breakfast cereal, canned meats, rice, beans, soup, pasta and baby food.

“We see the need in the community and want to do anything we can to help,” he said. “We see people who may be in tough situations every day, so we really want to help out our patrons.”

The Food for Fines program is something that the library has hosted several times in the past, typically during the holiday season. The success of the program varies, with the library collecting anywhere between 10 to 83 large boxes of food to donate to local nonprofits, including ACTION Ministries. Though the library has not had many donations yet this month, Weston believes the program is something the people will respond well to.

“I think people like the idea that we are not angry that [unreturned] items haven’t come back,” he said. “It’s usually fairly easy for people to scrounge up some food items, so it makes returning things easy.”

Weston is hoping for a high number of donations this month, saying that summer events like Summer in the City and the library’s book sale will result in more people coming to the library in general.

“It gets busy this time of year,” he said. “There just tends to be more people around. … We are ready for donations.”