Morinville Library’s Children’s Learning Centre gets $8K boost from NWR

Morinville Community Library Program Coordinator Stacey Buga, dressed in her Summer Reading Program garb, shows off the area where the Children’s Learning Centre will be established thanks to an $8,000 donation from North West Redwater Partnership.

by Stephen Dafoe

The Morinville Community Library was set to receive an $8,000 donation from North West Redwater Partnership (NWR) Thursday afternoon, monies that will be used to create a Children’s Learning Centre.

The library previously received $1,000 from RBC for the project, giving the project $9,000 in funding.

Morinville Community Library Program Coordinator Stacey Buga said the library hopes to have the Learning Centre open this fall.

Buga said the Children’s Learning Centre is being substantially upgraded for the first time since the Library returned to their renovated space about five years ago.

“We need to redo it, and we finally have the funding to do it,” she said, noting the puppet theatre which was recently damaged will be replaced. As well, the library will make the space more accessible. “We’re going to be looking at a lot more sensory items for kids with special needs, and making it a more accessible space. Unfortunately, that stuff costs a lot of money, so we’re going to do it right.”

Buga said funding from companies like RBC and NWR is essential to library programing.

“It’s crucial. Our library runs a tight budget for operations – keeping our staff here, keeping the books on the shelves, not so much the extras,” she explained. “If the community wants to have a space that’s free to anybody and free for everybody, then we need to have the support from our business community.”

One example of business sponsorship in action is the library’s popular Summer Reading Program, which is 100% supported by donations from the local business community.

“We’ve had some great supporters that come out every year,” she said. “It’s all free for every kid.”

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