This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the Mount Jewett Memorial Library building.  The current library building was dedicated in October 1966, after the old library building was destroyed by fire in 1960.  Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, most of the library’s collection of books was saved from the flames.  Later, the family of retired teacher Katherine McMahon dedicated the lot on which the current library sits to be permanently used for library purposes. Community-wide volunteer and fundraising efforts then led to construction of the current library building, which was designed by famed local architect Raymond Viner Hall.

The goal of the Rotary Club’s matching challenge is to raise a total of $6,000 for the Mount Jewett Memorial Library Endowment Fund. To that end, the Rotary Club is offering to contribute $2,000 to the MJML Endowment Fund if the Library is able to raise $4,000 in contributions from the community.  That’s $1 from the Rotary Club for every $2 from the rest of the community.

The Mount Jewett Memorial Library is asking for the community’s help in continuing to grow the Endowment Fund to ensure operational funding for the Library for many years to come. To celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the library building, MJML is reaching out to the community that built it to ask for continued support for the Endowment Fund that provides a steady and predictable stream of funding to ensure the Library’s ability to continue to serve the public with not only books, but also programs for children and adults, access to newspapers and periodicals, internet resources, printing and fax services, and much more.