09/15/2026
Thank you to the community, to everyone who donated, who had their own fundraisers, who spread the word, who lugged gross boxes out of the basement, and who are fostering books! We surpassed our fundraising goal, and flew past the match from the Stackpole-Hall Foundation.
We have enough to get the basement level reopened, to pay for cleaning and the repair costs. We are going to be able to replace the back doors and the floor to ceiling windows thanks to the Doris Stackpole Foundation. And we have enough for our generator.
What will we be doing with the “extra” funds? There are always things that need replaced! But every penny will go towards capital expenditures (the building) and furniture. We will be repainting the children’s room and large meeting room.
I have had an ongoing building wishlist for years that I would love to get to. About 3 years ago, I had an engineer walk through the building to start giving us estimates on what it would cost to remodel/upgrade different parts of the building. He went through and gave suggests on how to better utilize the space we have and to prioritize what needed fixed. The Capital Campaign letters that were mailed last month were intended to originally be sent this Fall. The flooding just switched priorities and moved up our timeline.
All of the bathrooms NEED remodeled. The stair treads need replaced. A battery operated chairlift would be amazing in case something happens to the elevator when we have people with mobility issues in the basement. The moisture issue in the building need a better fix than us emptying dehumidifiers all the time.
I want to drywall the large meeting room, the local history room, and the office. As much as I love hearing the children singing at storytime, it would be nice if we had some soundproof places in the building! The kitchen/storage room needs remodeling, with either more kitchen cabinets or removing the cabinets and getting shelves. And at some point I want to look into solar panels for our wonderful flat roof to help with our crazy electric bill.
You will see us still fundraising for the library. We’ll be at the Fall Fest this weekend, and currently have a basket raffle going on at the library. There are some wall manipulative I would love to add in the children’s room (like the ones by the mural in the hallway). And our AWE computer stations for kids have kicked the bucket. I would love to add a Tonie or Yoto circulating collection. And replacing the electrical outlets that stick out of the floor would be amazing. Plus every year we have to raise funds for our operating expenses.
The staff and patrons will always have dreams for the building. While we will not be getting a pool on the roof, or the parking lot we all want, most of our goals are possible. The library building is 57 years old, and she has served us well. Here’s to another 57 years!
