FORT FRANCES—While the fundraising campaign won’t officially start until February, about $40,000 in donations already have come in for the proposed new public library building here—including a $25,000 donation by local resident Joyce Cunningham.
“The library is very, very important to me and it has been throughout my life,” said Cunningham, who chairs the library board, after presented a cheque to it last week.
“I think of members of my family who encouraged me to use the library. It opened up that whole world to me,” she noted. “I also think of certain teachers who inspired me to read and to use a library, and to realize its importance to the community.
“It seemed like the appropriate and wonderful thing for me to do, personally,” added Cunningham. “It’s a good feeling to make a donation like this because it’s so important to me.”
Cunningham, who had worked as both a teacher and then a librarian at Fort Frances High School, said those many years on the job also reinforced her perception of the importance of libraries to people of all ages.
“It was important to me as a teacher, but I realized more and more how important it was to students for a number of reasons—not just learning, but for leisure reading and entertainment aspects,” she remarked.
“Libraries have become so much more than a storehouse for books.”
Library fundraising campaign chair Mark Kowalchuk said Cunningham’s donation last week “was totally unexpected.”
“Certainly the size of it was even more unexpected,” he remarked yesterday.
“She’s passionate about the library, and that’s certainly borne out by what she’s doing,” he added.
Kowalchuk said Cunningham’s generous donation has been added to the $15,000 which already has been given to the campaign.
Some of this money has come in from library users who have passed away and left funds in their wills while some other donations have been made in honour of those still living who have special meaning in relation to the library (such as librarians and teachers, for instance).
Kowalchuk stressed the library is set up to take donations right now, and that the public is encouraged to drop in there and talk to the staff.
Tax receipts will be issued.
Cunningham conceded the timing of her donation was in order for her to get a tax break for 2006, and encouraged others to make that same consideration.
Kowalchuk also said donors of significant funds might want to discuss “naming opportunities” (i.e., dedicating a part of the new library to someone) with himself or Cunningham, and those interested are encouraged to get in touch with either of them.
But Kowalchuk said the fundraising really will kick into high gear in late February.
The public can expect to see a mail-out campaign, and Kowalchuk also will personally start going out to local organizations asking for their support.
This will be accompanied by an information campaign to make the public even more aware of what the board’s vision for the new library entails.
“We have a fairly good understanding what we would like to see in a new library based upon input from the public, the staff, and certainly the board,” noted Kowalchuk.
“We’re getting very excited about getting the campaign underway.”
Kowalchuk said preliminary plans for the new library, which will be located at the corner of Second Street East and Reid Avenue, indicate work will start in 2010.
But if all goes well enough with fundraising, it’s possible construction could start before then.
Back in 2003, when the preliminary plans were devised, the cost of building a new library was $3 million. Considering inflation, the cost of a new library now is estimated to be between $3.5 and 3.8 million, said Cunningham.
“We’re being very, very careful though,” she stressed. “We never want to mislead the public or underestimate the cost. I do not think that’s fair when you’re starting a campaign.
“We’ve always said we’re going to be dependent on funding from senior levels of government, but we’ve also know that in order to get that, whenever it might come, we have to be ready,” Cunningham added.
“It is time for us to start the campaign.”
Anyone with questions about the new library is encouraged to call Cunningham (274-9248) or Kowalchuk (274-9118).
Information brochures also are available at the library.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
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