Updates!

I’ve had a couple of exciting updates on the library that I’ve wanted to post, and I figured that now is the time to post both of them!

If you’re a regular reader and/or a resident of Berryville, you probably know that we launched our fundraising campaign for a new library building 5 months ago today and that we also had a reading challenge to raise additional money this summer.

Read ahead for updates on both projects!

In the past 5 months, we have raised 37% of our fundraising goal. That includes very generous donations from CS Bank, Arvest Bank, the Clark family, First National Bank of North Arkansas, and Anstaff Bank.

For the summer, the Squires family sponsored our second annual summer reading challenge. Last year, we raised over $15,000 when the Judy G. Western family offered to pay a dollar for each hour read during the summer, shattering our goal of $10,000.

This year, we raised the stakes even more, with a goal of $15,000, and the community again went above and beyond. We raised $19,955 for the library for this summer challenge. Thanks so much to the Squires family for their generosity and to everyone who participated for their hard work and dedication!

We will continue to post periodic updates here, but if you want to follow news on the building project, please be sure to check out our Friends’ site devoted to it and follow our Friends group on Facebook.

Also, if you, your family, your business, or your civic organization is interested in sponsoring a challenge (including summer reading in the future), please let us know. We have raised over $65,000 through these types of challenges in the past year. They are very successful, fun fundraising opportunities for us that so far have always greatly exceeded expectations.

I know it is a cliche to say, but we’ve been especially humbled by the support we have received from the community throughout this process. We literally could not conduct this fundraising campaign without those of you who donate money, volunteer with the Friends, participate in challenges, follow us on social media, share posts to help us spread the word, etc.

Please keep doing what you’re doing, and we will definitely keep up our end of the work! We are continuing to research and reach out to potential major donors, as well as foundations.

You want a new library. We want a new library. Let’s keep working together to build a new library! 🙂