Charitable Giving Puts Public Library Back on the Map

6a01b8d0a6271d970c01bb0889395f970d-500piThe Stanley and Elaine Ball Charitable Foundation granted the Taneyhills Library $350,000 to renovate the children’s area and to create a technology conference room. Taneyhills Library Board Chairman Kenton Olson said the children’s library is what needed to be refurbished the most.

“Our future is in our children, so we thought it was appropriate that it would be the children’s library that we would emphasize. And the one area of the library that I think that gets a lot of use and needed some real updating,” Olson said. Olson said he hopes the renovation will get children excited about going to the library again, as well as make the library appealing to older children such as tweens and teens.

 

The (Branson, MO) Tri Lakes News reported, in “Branson library receives $350,000 grant for renovation, tech upgrades,” that as a result of a generous gift from The Stanley and Elaine Ball Charitable Foundation, the Taneyhills Library intends to create a destination for young families and children—”a place where we can begin to foster a love of books and learning.”

 

The gift will also fund the creation of a state-of-the-art technology conference room that will feature laptops, charging stations, a smart board, a big screen TV and conference phones.

 

The library has a 20-by-30-foot area that will be converted into the technology room, which will provide a facility for use by home-schoolers, business seminars, training sessions, and discussion groups. Olson said that hopefully it will also be a draw to the library.

 

Olson said the remodel wouldn’t have been made possible without the generosity of the Stanley and Elaine Ball Charitable Foundation. It was the belief and passion for what these upgrades could do for the library that impressed the foundation committee in its decision to grant the money. The library hopes that this gift will help put the library “back on the map,” increase visibility, and up use of the library.

 

Stanley Ball, who was once mayor of Branson, was a generous person, as in his estate planning, he left enough to take care of his family—then left the rest to do wonderful things like this for the communities that were so good to him.

 

Talk to your estate planning attorney about charitable giving in your planning. Whether you gift a little or a lot, it could make a big difference to the work of your favorite charity.

 

Reference:  The (Branson, MO) Tri Lakes News (October 23, 2015) “Branson library receives $350,000 grant for renovation, tech upgrades”

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail