Library News and views: Foundation helps fund library projects

Do you know about the Havre Hill County Library Foundation? The foundation is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, managed by a group of community volunteers who handle the donations made to the Havre-Hill County Library and decide what donated money will be spent on.

A lot of the donations come in the form of memorials; when beloved family members and friends die, people donate money to the Foundation in their memory.

We offer the option to honor friends and family while they are still alive as well, in the form of a living tribute. This a great way to show the library-lovers in your life that you’re thinking of them or honor them on their birthdays or for their accomplishments.

Or, if you have people in your life who don’t love the library (why on earth wouldn’t they love the library?!) or just don’t use the library, this is a golden opportunity to show them the error of their ways. Give them a card that says “Instead of giving you birthday money this year, I donated it to the library. If you want to see what they’re doing with the money, you’ll have to go to the library to find out.”

Library projects the Foundation has funded in the past include the digitization of the Havre Daily News. Digital copies of the Havre Daily News can be accessed from our website havrehilllibrary.org, or from havrehill.advantage-preservation.com. The Havre Daily News from 1929 through April 2014 is available digitally, and May 2014 through September 2015 are currently being indexed and will be available soon.

Another project the foundation is working on with help from the Preservation Society and the Montana Memory Project is the digitization of oral history tapes made for Jim Magera’s local history class. Digitization of these tapes will preserve them and make them accessible to everyone with interest. These oral histories will be a lovely treasure for the Havre community to enjoy.

If interested, you can easily become a member of the Havre-Hill County Library Foundation with an annual donation of $10 for general membership or $25 for patron membership.

You can also make a one-time $250 donation for Lifetime membership or $1,000 for Pioneer membership. The Foundation has an annual membership meeting every spring which is open to the public. This year the annual meeting is scheduled for April 21 at 7 p.m. in the Havre-Hill County Library meeting room. There will be some entertainment and light refreshments.

Thank you to our current Foundation board members. Bonnie Williamson is chair, Debi Rhines is secretary, Jody Hellegaard is treasurer, Dolores Noffsinger represents the Havre-Hill County Library Board, and Francine Brady and Judi Dritshulas are foundation board members. Under their guidance the Foundation provides wonderful support to your Havre-Hill County Library.