Ferguson MO Library Donations Add Up

The little library in Ferguson, Missouri, has now received more than $350,000 in cash and thousands of books collected by at least four book-drives aimed at upgrading the library's collection.  That is wonderful news for a library whose annual budget has run approximately $400,000 per year.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Ferguson Municipal Public Library has big plans for the money and books:

The Ferguson Municipal Public Library, founded in 1930, is in a relatively new building on North Florissant Road, but it can use some capital improvements, Bonner said two weeks ago when donations started coming in through Pay Pal. Carpeting and old computers can use updating, he said. But he has also said that his main goal is to hire a full-time children's librarian who can work on programming. Bonner is the only full-time librarian. 

[...]

Currently, the library is offering "healing kits" to kids. They come with books about feelings and a stuffed animal. (The books can be borrowed for two weeks; the stuffed animals apparently can be kept.) 

Scott Bonner

It's good to see something like this happen to a community so few had even heard of before all the recent media coverage of the needless rioting there.  This library was one of the few havens of sanity on the worst night of the rioting, and I wish Library Director Scott Bonner well.  Make the most of this windfall, Mr. Bonner.   This is your chance to positively and permanently change some of the young lives in Ferguson.  Good luck.