The Gibson Memorial Library capital campaign has met its obligation to match $250,000 of a $500,000 grant from The DEKKO Foundation.
Library director David Hargrove said the campaign had one year from April 2018, however it took significantly less time to raise the funds.
“That shows we have significant support within the community,” said Hargrove. “We still have a lot of businesses and individuals we’d like to hear from. We been lobbying some of those folks, and we’re hopeful that as we continue to gain momentum they will come along.”
Hargrove said he is grateful for the support the community and businesses have already shown. Now that the campaign has raised close to half the money it needs for the expansion, he hopes that people will take notice, and those riding the fence will decide it’s time to get involved.
“Creston can do this,” said Hargrove. “It just depends on how many folks decide it’s a worthwhile priority. I think it would be a tremendous cultural asset in Creston and Union County. It would enable us to do a lot of things in the uptown area and host a lot of functions that we’re currently not able to. It would be a point of pride for folks like Ellen Gerharz at the Chamber (of Commerce) and Wayne Pantini at UCDA (Union County Development Association) as they are introducing new business clients to the area. It shows that there is value placed by this community on literacy and on cultural events.”
Hargrove also believes the City of Creston could help with some of the cost of the expansion, but feels like it would be easier to convince city officials of the importance of the library to the community with significant amount of the needed funds already acquired.
“Down the road, if we can get a couple million dollars, we might make some entreaties to the City of Creston,” said Hargrove. “My sense is that the political will is not there for that, but if we had a couple million dollars in the bank, that would be awfully persuasive.”
The capital campaign has raised nearly half of the $3 million it needs to expand the library.
The expansion will double the available space giving the library the ability to host library-based programs at its location instead of off-site locations, such as the neighboring churches. The addition will allow the library to host larger community-based events, and add more space for inventory and additional meeting space.