Shaw donates $175,000 to new library

FORT FRANCES—The Fort Frances Public Library “Building for the Future” campaign got a major shot-in-the-arm Tuesday with a $175,000 donation from Shaw Communications.
The donation to the Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre boosts the campaign’s fundraising total to $706,000—a big step closer to its goal of $750,000.
Equally important, it put new wind in the sails of a project that has seen its share of setbacks this year.
“I must say there are times when I love being chair of the library board, and this is one of them,” said Joyce Cunningham, admitting during a presentation at the Civic Centre on Tuesday afternoon that she hasn’t been this happy since the library project was kick-started 16 months ago with a $1.6-million grant from the Ministry of Culture.
Cunningham said that prior to Monday, she did not want to know how large the Shaw donation was going to be—for fear she might spill the beans—and only learned the whopping total after a phone call that day.
“This will come as a surprise to many of you but there was a long moment for which I was silent, with my mouth hanging open,” she remarked.
The library committee had written a letter to Shaw back in February, asking for financial aid to help build the technology centre at the new facility, but “never expected such a generous donation,” said Cunningham.
“When we began this campaign, we had levels of donations—‘bronze’ levels for $500 and so on—and we jokingly had a ‘palladium’ donation, which was $100,000-plus, never really believing that someone would donate in that category,” chief librarian Margaret Sedgwick said.
“Shaw is our first ‘palladium’ donor.”
Tuesday’s announcement was made by Deb Avis, vice-president of marketing for Shaw, who was here from Calgary to make the presentation as well as visit family.
“What an absolute pleasure to be here with you today,” said Avis. “My roots are from Fort Frances, so it’s an honour on behalf of the Shaw family and Shaw Communications, to participate in helping to build a new library and technical centre for the Fort.
“When my dad, Brian Avis, your project manager, and Mark Kowalchuk, the chair of your fundraising committee, approached Shaw to help with the great project, we were very happy to put the proposal forward to Shaw’s philanthropic committee,” she noted.
“Shaw, as a communications company, is about delivering exceptional service and technology to our over 9,000 employees. We’re a people-powered company that’s proud to support the interests and values of the communities that we serve.
“Your library is also about people, community, and technology,” said Avis. “As a company, Shaw joins you to see the possibilities as we build for the future.
“We look forward to seeing the Shaw name on your communications room. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be a part of this beneficial partnership in a high-profile initiative for Fort Frances,” she concluded.
Mayor Roy Avis, who is Deb Avis’ cousin, said the sizable donation prompts a renewed focus on the library project, which was a subject of much debate during the 2008 budget process.
“This project has been one of the most controversial projects I’ve been involved in, in my private life and public life,” said the mayor.
“But seeing the support that’s been given by a company like Shaw makes myself, and I think also council, realize this is going to be a reality, this library, and we’re going to have to work as a team to come up with the solution to get the extra funding and also put everything behind us and work in a positive manner to make this come to fruition in the next year.”
Cunningham said the library campaign has been well-received, with donations coming in from the “Friends of the Library,” service clubs, business, organizations, and individuals donating anything from $20 to $30,000.
“People who have contributed are amazing,” she enthused.
That said, Tuesday’s generous infusion now has committee members itching to work on a final fundraising push this fall to achieve—and perhaps exceed—the $750,000 goal.
“As soon as Mark [Kowalchuk] gets back, and he’s flying from Europe as we speak, the plan is we will gear up with the rest of our fundraising campaign beginning in early fall,” said Cunningham.
“We’re ready to go and push for as much as we can possibly add to our fundraising total.
“It’s wonderful. You know that in the past few months, there have been moments when we have been quite depressed, and this just gives us the impetus and the enthusiasm to go the last little stretch,” she added.
“We’re quite confident that we will make it; we will be building next spring and we will have a facility that fulfills the needs of our community.”
Cunningham said the library building committee will meet next month to go over plans again, and make any necessary changes.
“Then we’ll probably get it to council and get this whole thing decided in the fall because our timeline is that we’re going to tender in January,” she remarked.
Cunningham noted Shaw’s donation is specifically for the communications room at the new library, which will be dedicated to the major donor. The donation also brings focus to bear on developing the technological features of the new facility.
“What we’re emphasizing is the whole technology aspect of the library, and Shaw understands the implications of that and how it can be used in so many different ways,” she said.
“And so in the next few months, as well as raising more money, we’ll be looking at a lot of that in more detail and picking out exactly what we want to have in our new ‘Shaw area.’”
Cunningham conceded the committee has had some difficulty emphasizing the importance of the technology centre within the new library, and plans to communicate that to the public better in the near future.
(Fort Frances Times)