Library Expansion Project

Shout

Updated: May 2023

WITH YOUR HELP, OUR LIBRARY WILL BECOME A REALITY

Our "Building from Yesterday for Tomorrow" capital campaign, led by local community volunteers, will raise the necessary funds to realize our "Vision for Tomorrow".

The Campaign has raised $1,200,000 (including pledges) to date. This is largely from local donations, those with strong ties to Brandon, and major grants, including the latest $100,000 grant from Otto Bremer Trust to be paid at groundbreaking, that is on top of the $25,000 they paid out from a dollar-for-dollar match grant we reached, and also $473,000 from Senator Tammy Baldwin.  With this Federal Grant comes an application checklist. The money is designated to the campaign, but will not get allocated until we abide by everything on the checklist.  This will take time, but when all is complete, the project will go back out for bid.  With no more bumps in the road, construction is estimated to start in Spring 2024.

For every gift of $100 or more, you will receive an autographed copy of "Stories from the Village", by the former Brandon resident Harold Kurtz.  Part of his delightful collection of short stories of small-town life in the mid 20th Century. If you did not receive your copy, please let the Library know and Harold will send you your autographed copy.

For every gift of $500 or more, you will be honored on our bookcase recognition wall.

If you have already made a gift that is less than either mentioned, simply make an additional gift to reach the minimum and you can receive a book and/or get on the recognition wall.

Simply donate here.

 

How we got started:

Special recognition and gratitude are extended to our Building from Yesterday for Tomorrow Campaign honorary chair-couple, Harold and Grace Kurtz. They are the handprint on all we have been doing and will soon be the bookends forever honored for beginning and ending this historic endeavor to expand and renovate our treasured library.

Some years ago they began supporting this dream with funds from book sale signings and proceeds profits that have continued ever since. They kicked off our campaign with an initial $100,000 matching pledge from the Sanford “Sandy” Moss estate, donated $10,000 towards consulting services, and pledged $60,000 for our endowment fund.

Table

Donate here with PayPal:

Expansion Layout:

Please note, we will be keeping our same look and feel, and we will still be on the National and State Historic Registry. These pictures will just give you a sense of the new space, how the library will be laid out and the additional space. 

The project is a single-story addition to the east of the existing library consisting of 1,334 square feet on the first floor. The total first floor of the existing library and addition is 2,794 square feet. Two openings in the wall between the existing Library and the addition will be added at the first-floor level and the existing library will be renovated with a conference room, various demolition and new finishes. The front of the building is designed to match the height of the existing building, as the roof will slope down the back. The improvements will include lounge seating, reading areas, workspaces, a Community meeting room, additional computer workstations, accessible, ADA-compliant restrooms, and finally well-designed, brightly lighted and age appropriate spaces, all with additional shelf space for more resources.

Logo

 

 

It takes a Village to Raise a Library initiative

         Read the case for expansion

brochure front