Ark Valley News - Foundation helps library’s fundraising effort

Foundation helps library’s fundraising effort
By The News staff
Last Updated: July 26, 2018

The Valley Center Community Foundation brought a big check to the new library this week.

On July 23, the foundation distributed $500,000 that will be used for the construction of the facility in Lions Park. It was money Friends of the Valley Center Library raised toward the project.

The foundation established the fund in 2014.

“The opportunity to hold funds for a cooperative community project like this is a wonderful example of how larger projects can be achieved when a public-private partnership is established," said Angie Tatro, executive director of Central Kansas Community Foundation, of which the Valley Center foundation is an affiliate.

Tatro said the foundation offered an array of giving services for donors wishing to invest in the project, which allowed not only cash gifts but also gifts of stock and IRA rollovers.

Donors that might not have given, gave in a variety of ways, she said. The foundation gave credit to the generosity of the Valley Center community.

“Our association with the foundation enabled the friends to concentrate on fundraising rather than on the placement of our funds for maximum growth," said Janice Sharp, director of the library. “Our friends also benefited from a grant awarded from Menocause: Ignite Valley Center."

Local foundation board members include chairman Spike Anderson, Tom Bartel, Mike Bonner, Howard Botts, Jerry Hawkins, Jodi Kirkland, Mike Porter, Trisha Schmidt, secretary Katrina Rubenich, and Anita Tideman.

Charitable funds established at the Valley Center Community Foundation include Friends of the Valley Center Library, Menocause: Ignite Valley Center, Valley Center Community Foundation Operating Fund, Valley Center Community Impact Fund, Valley Center Community Scholarship Fund, and the Valley Center School District Education Foundation.