Library Foundation receives $25,000 challenge gift

Warwick - At the 2007 annual meeting of the Albert Wisner Public Library Foundation, Jonah Mandelbaun and Donna Applegate pledged $25,000 to the Foundation’s Expanding Possibilities Capital Campaign. The gift was in direct response to a $25,000 donation made by the Friends of the Library to the new building campaign. It was intended to encourage 25 others to make a gift of at least $1,000. Applegate is the chair of the Albert Wisner Public Library Foundation and the current President of the Albert Wisner Public Library Board. This gift, she said, represents “a chance to give something back to my community.” The Foundation was formed in 2005 to raise private funds in support of the library’s programs and services. Expanding Possibilities is the Foundation’s campaign to support the new Albert Wisner Public Library. The voters’ approval of an $8.5 million bond in March will build a 20,000-square-foot new library and provide basic furnishings and equipment. The cost of expanded collections, technology and various enhancements a larger facility requires, will be funded through the Foundation’s Capital Campaign and gifts already donated to the library’s new building fund. The initial phase of the Foundation’s Capital Campaign already has raised more than $173,000 of its $500,000 goal. At the foundation’s annual meeting, Glenn P. Dickes, Virginia McDevitt and Gloria Menoutis were elected to join Donna Applegate, Joseph DeBold, Patrick Gallagher, Paul Kane, Colleen Larsen, W. Christopher Lenhardt, Carol Mezzetti, Michael Newhard, Jennifer O’Connor, Terry Quint, Christine Stage, Dolores Simon, Polly Vanderkruik on the Foundation’s Board of Governors. Applegate and Dickes were elected to chair and vice-chair respectively while Lenhardt and Stage were elected president and vice-president respectively. They join Mezzetti as treasurer and O’Connor as secretary. For information on how to participate in this challenge or other ways to make a contribution to Expanding Possibilities, contact Kathleen Georgalas or Rosemary Cooper at the library at 986-1047, ext. 5.