Frese: Push for Tonganoxie Public Libary expansion starts with Saturday run
Shawn Linenberger
For several years now, those of us on the Tonganoxie Public Library Board of Trustees have talked about building a new library.
It has just never seemed like the right time.
In just the last few years, we had the first school bond issue, then the second school bond issue, then gas was $4 a gallon, then the economy tanked, and on and on. So we waited for that mythical “good time” that we always hoped would come sometime in the future.
I’m no economist, and I’m probably the last person you’d want to ask about the financial outlook of any community let alone our own, but we’ve decided it’s time to get to work.
The members of the library board believe it’s vitally important to the health of Tonganoxie that the library remain downtown, so our preliminary plan is to double the library’s square footage by adding on to east side of the existing library at 303 S. Bury.
This project will take several years and will cost upwards of $1 million.
Maybe more.
Now, we could perhaps expedite the process by taking the conventional path and asking taxpayers for public monies. But we want to try something a little more unconventional first. Our vision is to make this library enhancement project an effort of charity, giving and faith in our community.
When we started planning this year’s Tonganoxie Library Run, which kicks off Tonganoxie Days on Saturday, we set a goal of raising $10,000 for the library building fund. It was a good, round number that we just kind of threw out there. And, yes, we all kind of chuckled at the thought of being able to raise that kind of money.
But thanks to the support of local business owners and community members, we have almost surpassed that goal.
That’s not all.
Earlier this year, we recruited about two dozen community members to start up the Tonganoxie Public Library Foundation, which will seek out private donations, corporate gifts and state and federal grant monies. And in the coming months, we’ll be recruiting members for our new Friends of the Tonganoxie Public Library group, which will have bake sales, book sales and other kinds of fundraisers for the library.
The positive response to this effort so far has been both breathtaking and humbling.
Now, I realize many who read this may never set foot in the Tonganoxie Public Library. And for those who haven’t been in lately, there are, of course, books and DVDs and computers.
But the library also has couponing classes, photography workshops, story times, visits from Santa, bread tastings, gardening workshops and all kinds of great stuff.
People also come in to use our computers because they can’t afford their own. Parents seek assistance with their resumes because they’ve been laid off from work. Grandmas ask for our help with their “stupid iPad thingies,” and grandpas come in looking for newspaper articles they read 25 years ago.
And there’s a large number of youths who come to the library needing a quiet, peaceful and safe place when school’s out. But because our library doesn’t always have the desired resources or spaces, people from our community sometimes go to libraries in Basehor, Bonner Springs and Lawrence. We hear those stories almost every day. It was too loud in our library, so they went to Basehor. There were too many people in our library, so they went to Bonner. The computers were all being used, so they went to Lawrence.
This is all fine and good — like any smaller Kansas town, everyone in Tonganoxie understands a town like ours cannot be all things to all people.
But when someone goes to the Basehor library, maybe they’re stopping at the Basehor Sonic instead of the Tonganoxie Sonic. And when someone goes to the Bonner Springs library, maybe they’re stopping at the Bonner Springs grocery store instead of Brothers Market.
And when they’re going to the Lawrence library, maybe they’re stopping at Pizza Hut instead of Gambino’s here in town. That’s money our community is losing out on every single day. For the betterment of Tonganoxie, the members of the library board hope you’ll assist in this effort to build a new library.
You can begin by joining us Saturday at the Library Run. You don’t have to be any kind of competitive athlete to join in. We have the 10K and the 5K runs, certainly, but we also offer a 5K walk. Your runner fees will go right to the building fund for this project.
You can register at the library all the way up until about 7:15 a.m., Saturday morning, or you can register at our pre-race event from 3 to 8 p.m., Friday, at Free State Fitness, 1198 Front St.
Even if running isn’t your thing, just stop by and talk to us about the project. We’d love to hear your ideas. The library staff, board and foundation are working to make this year’s Library Run the first successful step in a huge and worthwhile effort — building a library that other communities will envy and this community deserves.
— David Frese is the president of the Tonganoxie Public Library Board of Trustees. For more information about the library and the Tonganoxie Library Run, look for us on Facebook or email questions to libraryrunners@gmail.com.