Library Building Project Update

We hear from Leslie Baker with the SJI Library…

Your New Library Needs Your Help Now! 2020 Virtual County Fair Donations Needed. Donate online August 12 – 15, 2020.

A lot has happened since our last update in October 2019, and we are asking for your help now to fill an urgent need to prurchase the ideal property now, before it slips through our fingers!

In late 2019 we examined the requirements and actions needed to propose a bond levy in November 2020 to purchase the property and partially fund the building of a new library. We consulted experts in bonding and financial planning, and were ready to move ahead with the process. 

In early 2020 we also prepared to begin raising funds through a public/private fundraising campaign, and were ready to secure a Development Director to head those efforts over the next couple of years.

In anticipation of those measures, the Board began the process to purchase the property at 660 Spring Street, home to the former Life Care Center, recommended as the ideal site for our new library for its size, parking space, room for future growth and more!

In February, COVID-19 appeared, accompanied by increasing devastating economic impacts on island residents. The Library Board met and, in consideration of the difficulties faced by individuals and groups in our community, decided to postpone the bond levy for this year, and the large fundraising campaign.

The Library Board is still just as committed to building a new library but is adjusting the timeline around current circumstances. In the meantime it’s critical to secure the property that offers the best opportunities to build the visionary library needed for our community’s future, before the opportunity is lost.

So we are joining other nonprofits at this year’s Virtual County Fair to ask for your help to move us toward the goal of securing the Spring Street property. We don’t want to lose this prime property near the center of town with all of its accompanying benefits! Please donate now, and perhaps your donation may be the catalyst for others to do the same! If you miss donating during the Fair (August 12-15, 2020), send your tax deductible donations to the library, of Friends of the San Juan Island Library, earmarked for the building project.

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