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WOMAN LEAVES $394,000 TO LIBRARY FOUNDATION  



Vice president says it is largest gift the group has received



BY DANIELLE PETERSON


The Stayton Mail
June 4, 2008



The Stayton Library made a big impression on Marion Mossuto. So much so, that she left nearly $400,000 to the library foundation.

Mossuto, a former Friends of the Stayton Library president, died in December. Since then the details of her estate have been finalized and it was recently announced that she had bequeathed in excess of $394,000 to the foundation.

“Receiving a gift of that size isn’t something that happens everyday,” said Stayton Library Foundation President Dave Karr. “It’s extraordinary. We are very appreciative that Marion chose to make this gift to the foundation.”

Karr said Mossuto told him last year that she planned to donate a large portion of her estate to the foundation when she passed away, but he had no idea it would be that much.

Mossuto was a staunch supporter of the library since her arrival in Stayton in 2000. The foundation plans to honor her at the library’s birthday party July 12.

“(Her gift) is a fine example of a member of our community stepping up to meet the need,” Karr said. “I’m sure that Marion would want this contribution to encourage others to make a significant donation to support the ongoing needs of the library.”

Stayton Library Foundation Vice President Tass Morrison said Mossuto’s donation is the largest the foundation has received to date.

“She was a very self-directed woman and had these wonderful assets,” Morrison said. “She wanted to make a significant difference in this community and the library was her main focus. She had loved libraries since she was a child and was very involved over the years.”

With a donation the size of Mossuto’s comes the opportunity to name a portion of the library. Mossuto chose the new workroom and the adult reading center to bear her name.

“She will always be present in our library,” Morrison said. “The relationships she formed here will benefit our community in so many ways forever.”

Karr said the foundation plans to use the money to pay off the remaining construction costs of the new addition and to seed its endowment fund. Foundation members anticipate having about $75,000 left over for the endowment.

During the course of about three years the foundation raised $3 million to expand the library — doubling its square footage. The funds were raised without the help of tax dollars. Grants, donations and in-kind contributions paid for the project.

“The board set the goal of having a $1 million endowment,” Karr said.“But raising funds for an endowment is harder than raising funds to build a building. People aren’t as willing to donate to an endowment.”

He said the endowment is crucial to keep the library thriving. It will provide a continuing source of funding to help support library operations.

Before the expansion was built, city officials asked the foundation to assist with increased operating costs. The endowment will help offset those costs.

“In the beginning, our original budget was so large we only included what was absolutely necessary,” Karr said.

Now the foundation is working to raise funds to finish furnishing the building. Karr said $130,000 of the $160,000 needed to furnish the building has been raised.

“The furnishings has been our biggest project this year,” he said.

 

 
 

LIBRARY SHOWS STAYTON CAN-DO SPIRIT

Appeal Tribune

June 20, 2007

Stayton, your new public library is almost ready. Check it out.

Not that the “old” library, at 17 years, was in bad shape. But it was packed to the walls with books and people. You had to reserve a computer days in advance. So many kids signed up for last summer’s reading program that events took place in the community center next door.

No more.

Five thousand square feet have become 12,500 square feet, and wow, is it gorgeous. The same oak bookshelves and cream-colored walls, the same high ceilings and banks of windows streaming natural light. But tons more space — and tons more books, magazines and everything else.

This says a lot about you, Stayton. Be proud.

It says this is a community that reads. Librarian Pam Pugsley has placed the Pacific Northwest collection front and center because she knows it will get plenty of use. She’ll buy the new fiction and nonfiction best-sellers promptly for the same reason. And she’ll add to the poetry collection because there’s an active poetry group in town.

The new library says this is a “can-do” community. Stayton doesn’t wait for government to solve problems, at least in this case. Need $2.4 million to more than double the library space and furnish it? We’ll raise the money privately, every dime of it — that was Stayton’s response.

The new library says this is a community of volunteers. Give special credit to Dave Karr, president of the Stayton Library Foundation, who headed up the fundraising team. Donations have ranged from an anonymous bequest of $250,000 to 35 cents from a sixth-grader who rode by on his bike.

Volunteers also moved all the books over to the community center in April, rather than close down the library while workers installed sprinklers in the “old” section. Then they moved the books back. And moved them again and again as staff figured out how to arrange the new space and added books.

The new library is something everyone in Stayton will want to be part of. There isn’t much time before the library foundation turns over the building’s keys to the city. The fund drive still needs $70,000 for furnishings — Pugsley is literally ordering new paprika-colored chairs as the money comes in.

And, as luck would have it, a generous donor has pledged $30,000 if the foundation can raise $15,000 in June. Consider giving what you can, and watch it multiply.

And if you’re hungry for a book, a magazine or a movie — you can check that out, too.

 

 

STAYTON'S NEW LIBRARY IS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Statesman Journal

June 23, 2007

Stayton's new public library is almost ready. Check it out. Not that the "old" library, at 17 years, was in bad shape. But it was packed to the walls with books and people. People had to reserve a computer days in advance. So many kids signed up for last summer's reading program that events took place in the community center next door.

No more.

Five-thousand square feet have become 12,500 square feet, and wow, is it gorgeous. The same oak bookshelves and cream-colored walls, the same high ceilings and banks of windows streaming natural light. But tons more space -- and tons more books, magazines and everything else.

This says a lot about Stayton. Residents should be proud.

It says that Stayton is a community that reads. Reads so much, in fact, that the Stayton Public Library had nearly twice the circulation per capita as the Salem Public Library in 2005-06, according to state records.

Stayton librarian Pam Pugsley has placed the Pacific Northwest collection front and center because she knows it will get plenty of use. She'll buy the new fiction and nonfiction best-sellers promptly for the same reason. And she'll add to the poetry collection because there's an active poetry group in town.

The new library says this is a "can-do" community. Stayton doesn't wait for government to solve problems, at least in this case. Need $2.4 million to more than double the library space and furnish it? We'll raise the money privately, every dime of it -- that was Stayton's response.
The new library says Stayton is a community of volunteers. Give special credit to Dave Karr, president of the Stayton Library Foundation, who headed the fundraising team. Donations have ranged from an anonymous bequest of $250,000 to 35 cents from a sixth-grader who rode by on his bike.

Volunteers also moved all the books over to the community center in April, rather than close down the library while workers installed sprinklers in the "old" section. Then they moved the books back. And moved them again and again as the staff figured out how to arrange the new space and added books.

Donors who respect that kind of spirit can be part of the new library. The fund drive still needs $70,000 for furnishings -- Pugsley is literally ordering new paprika-colored chairs as the money comes in.

And as luck would have it, a generous benefactor has pledged $30,000 if the foundation can raise $15,000 in June. Consider giving what you can and watch it multiply.

How to help
Send donations to the Stayton Library Foundation, P.O. Box 810, Stayton, OR 97383; call (503) 769-9658; or call Dave Karr, library foundation president, (503) 749-3558.

 

 

STAYTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT DAVE KARR NAMED FIRST CITIZEN

April, 2007

Congratulations to Dave Karr, Board president and chair of the fundraising campaign for the expansion of the Stayton Public Library, who was named Stayton First Citizen for 2007 by the Stayton/Sublimity Chamber of Commerce.  He will receive the award at the annual awards ceremony the evening of April 26 at a banquet held at Regis High School.

Dave was nominated for his successful and exemplary leadership of the capital campaign and tireless efforts at raising funds for library expansion.  He has led the effort which now has grown to $2,171,454 for construction.  The campaign has also received $485,000 in estate gifts for future support of library services and programs.

 

 

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO FINISH AND FURNISH!

March 15, 2007

STAYTON PUBLIC LIBRARY: UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

The Stayton Public Library expansion project is well underway with infrastructure, floors, walls, and roof almost completed. The structure is now in place for the main entrance which will be moved to the new 7500 sq. ft. addition once the facility is opened. “Everyday there is something new. Come peek out the windows in the library”, says Pam Pugsley, Library Director.

Your help is needed to finish and furnish!

Funded by the Stayton Public Library Foundation, the goal now is to raise $230,130 by June 2007 to finish and furnish the library addition. “To get there, we need donations of all sizes, from everyone”, says Dave Karr, Campaign Chair. “Gifts of $50, $100, $500 and up are needed to make this happen and we want everyone in our community to ‘own’ a part of the new addition”, he said. Already over $2.1 million has been raised for constructing the building.

Items to Fund:

The new addition will include much larger children and youth areas, an expanded technology area, and a community meeting room. Needed to furnish these areas are tables, chairs, including computer station chairs, shelving for books and magazines, a lectern with wiring, a smart board, a sofa, and study carrels.

Please donate!

To donate, select the Donate Today button on these web pages and follow the instructions, call the Foundation office at 503.769.9658, or leave your donation at the Library.

 

 

LOCAL COMPANIES VOLUNTEERING HELP TO MAKE STAYTON LIBRARY EXPANSION A REALITY

The Stayton Mail

June 23, 2007

STAYTON – It was a snowy day at the Stayton Library expansion job site, but that didn’t stop the workers from breaking up even more of the parking lot, weld supports to the structure and take unwanted dirt offsite.

Work is moving fast at the library, and even faster thanks to the very companies that are building the expansion project.

“We wouldn’t be anywhere without the companies that are helping us with the expansion,” said David Karr, Stayton Library Foundation president and capital campaign chairman. “Their support has made this project happen, but we are nowhere near done fundraising.”

Emery & Sons Construction, Slayden Construction and Stayton Community Telephone Company are three of many companies that have stepped forward to help with fundraising, and they are also directly involved in the construction of the expansion having, to date, donated more than $80,000 of in-kind and cash donations.

“We have always been a Stayton-based company and this project really is important to our community, that’s why we got involved,” said Bill Martinak, vice president and general manager of Emery & Sons Construction. “We have been involved with the schools for years, but this is a project that is going to have an impact on the entire community. That’s why we wanted to be involved and are contributing to it.”

Emery & Son are contractors that deal mostly with utilities, so their donation has been mostly of in-kind services, like hooking into the main water line last week.

So while Emery & Sons is tapping into city water and running conduit underneath the parking lot to the new addition, workers from Slayden Construction are hard at work putting up the internal structure that will support walls and the roof.

Much like Emery & Sons, Slayden is also giving in-kind donations of project management costs and what they would have made in profit to the addition.

“About 20 percent of our employees live in Stayton and we have been based in Stayton since 1984, so projects like this one are good ways for us to invest in the community that helps support our business,” said Gene Doll of Slayden Construction. “This really is a feel-good job for us.”

The company is also offering gap funding for the project, meaning they will cover whatever hasn’t been raised to finish the main construction of the project – typically something that costs $20,000 to $30,000 in fees, Doll said.

Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company is also helping the library project in many different ways.

“When we heard about what was going on at the library, our board really wanted to be involved with the project,” said Mike Reding, marketing coordinator for SCTC. “We basically asked the foundation what they needed and they gave us a list. We picked the top four things.”

The SCTC donation includes in kind contributions of telephone equipment, alarm systems and computer equipment, within a set budget. They are also donating marketing support to help get the word out about the project and have given a cash donation to the building of the new addition. They also gave a cash donation to the endowment fund, which will help with the operating costs of the expanded library.

“We couldn’t do everything on the list, but we did as much as we could,” Reding said.

Still need donations

Pam Pugsley, library director sat in her office looking at the blueprints of the new library and shook her head.

“We might have a new expansion, but we don’t have what we need to furnish it yet,” Pugsley said. “We are recycling what we can, but there are still a lot of items we need.”

Right now, according to Library Foundation president David Karr, the expansion project needs another $350,000 to finish the project, and with the help from companies like Emery & Sons, Slayden and SCTC, he thinks the project could make it.

“If you had told me two years ago, when I started getting involved in this we would be this far along, I would have been shocked,” Karr said. “But we still have a ways to go before June, and we really need to get there.”

 

 

CITY SIGNS OFF ON AGREEMENT WITH LIBRARY FOUNDATION

The Stayton Mail

January 10, 2007

The Stayton Public Library Foundation and City Hall have finally signed an agreement that puts their mutual goals and expectations in writing.

At the first city council meeting of the year, Jan. 2, City Administrator Chris Childs presented a negotiated Endowment Agreement document to council where it met with approval in a three to one vote and Childs was instructed to sign the agreement in behalf of the city. The foundation will meet to approve Jan. 22. Discussion of the endowment has been ongoing since 2003.

The agreement is necessarily flexible since no one knows what costs for upkeep and wages will amount to for the expanded library.

“We really won’t know what the costs are until we establish a cost history once the addition is completed,” Childs said.

However, according to Childs presentation, well-reasoned estimates put the additional operating costs at upward of $70,000 per year. The library earns money yearly, the City’s existing four-year Local Option Tax will absorb approximately $27,000 per year for the next two years, and the foundation estimates it can already guarantee $20,000 in 2007-08 and $22,500 in 2008-09 from endowment funds. Foundation money will be used for operation costs, maintenance of and improvements to the library. The foundation will begin paying on library upkeep, from the endowment funds, in July of 2007. The amount that the foundation will contribute for library operations after 2008-09 will be determined in a review process with the city which will take place in July 2008.

“I think that’s a fine arrangement,” Library Foundation President Dave Karr said. “To promise significant changes when we didn’t have the money in place wasn’t useful. We hope we’re successful, but it hasn’t all happened yet.”

Whether or not the foundation can absorb the costs currently paid for by the Local Option Tax after that tax expires is not known. However, the goal of the foundation is to raise a minimum of $250,000 entirely from private funds for the endowment and contribute earnings from the endowment to support the annual operation of the library.

New Mayor, Virginia Honeywell, expressed confidence in the foundation’s ability to absorb greater costs as the endowment grew.

“The contribution of the foundation will grow,” Honeywell said. “They’ve made that commitment to us.”

Karr admits that it was he, personally, who expressed that commitment, not the foundation board as a whole.

“I indicated I would ask the board to do that,” Karr said.

Karr wanted to make it clear that some members of the board will likely feel their dedication was to the construction project, not an endowment project, he said, and they should be honored for that prodigious and successful commitment. Others now on the board, and perhaps new members would no doubt embrace a change of goals once construction was complete, he said.

 

 

 

DORIS J. WIPPER FUND MAKES GRANT TO LIBRARY FOUNDATION

December 8, 2006

The Stayton Public Library Foundation is the recipient of a $30,000 grant from the Doris J. Wipper Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to aid the remodeling and expansion of the Stayton Public Library.

The Stayton Public Library Foundation’s goal is to raise $2.361 million to expand the existing library, re-model critical sections of the library and fund an endowment that will help pay for the ongoing operation of the library into the future. Over the past four years the OCF Doris J. Wipper Fund has awarded a total of $115,000 to the library expansion project. Construction of the 7500 sq. ft. addition began in September with completion planned by July 2007.

The Oregon Community Foundation, established in 1973, has managed charitable funds donated by individuals, families, and businesses to enhance and support the quality of life in their communities. Today, OCF’s endowment consists of over 1160 funds with combined assets of $770 million.

OCF makes grants through an application process that involves local citizens in the review and evaluation of requests for funds. Application materials are available through the foundation’s Portland office. Individuals or businesses interested in establishing a fund may contact the Portland office at 1221 SW Yamhill, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97205, 503-227-6846.

 

 

BLAZER INDUSTRIES DONATES TO LIBRARY FOUNDATION

December 8, 2006

Blazer Industries, Inc. a producer of manufactured homes in Aumsville, Oregon, has donated $50,000 to the Stayton Public Library expansion project, becoming a major business donor to the capital campaign. Shirl Shetler, CEO, said, “The Stayton library serves a wide community in the Santiam Canyon and Blazer Industries values the positive impact the library has on all of those who live and work here. We hope to serve as a model to other community-minded businesses and invite them to join us in supporting this worthy endeavor.”

“This generous donation brings our total pledges to just over $2.050 million; we deeply appreciate this significant contribution from a local business,” said Stayton Public Library Foundation President, Dave Karr. “We are closing in on our goal of $2.361 million and we know that the small gifts are going to join the large gifts to push us well over the top before June 30.”

The Foundation began construction on the 7500 square foot library addition in September and completion is planned for July 2007. The Young Adult Area will bear the Blazer Industries, Inc. name. The Stayton Public Library is located at 515 North First Avenue in Stayton.

 

 

LIBRARY RECEIVES $125,000 FOR EXPANSION

October 18, 2006

The Stayton Library Foundation continues to march towards the goal of raising $2.36 million dollars by next June.

The Foundation recently received an estate gift of $100,000 from a local resident and a $25,000 gift from a local business that wishes to remain unnamed at this time.

“Currently over $1.9 million has been raised in cash and pledges,” said Dave Karr, president of the foundation.

The Foundation is now promoting its “Book Spine” fundraising efforts. These are hand-crafted wooden replicas of book spines that will have the donating parties names carved into the spine, much like the book title and author would be on a real book. The spines will be placed on permanent display in a decorative bookcase in the newly expanded library.

“We encourage all our patrons to consider giving a spine as a gift for birthdays, anniversaries or the holidays,” Karr said. “What a great way to honor someone you love.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

  
   
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