The library will be closed on Sunday, March 31, in observance of Easter Sunday.

Foundation

St. Charles Public Library Foundation Seeks Board Member

 

The St. Charles Public Library Foundation is accepting applications for individuals interested in filling a vacancy on its Board of Directors. The Foundation is a nonprofit corporation established in 1993 charged with the purpose of providing funds to enhance the St. Charles Public Library’s programs, services and facilities. The Foundation supports the speaker series and Sunday concerts, and most recently, contributed to the Carnegie fireplace restoration.

 

To be eligible for consideration, the applicant must be an adult resident of the St. Charles Public Library District. Interested applicants should submit a letter of interest and a resume to the Foundation by March 22, 2024. Letters may be dropped off at the administrative office of the Library or mailed to the Foundation at St. Charles Public Library Foundation, One S. Sixth Avenue, St. Charles, IL 60174.

 

Questions about the Foundation may be directed to Library Director Kate Buckson at [email protected].

 

Donating to the Library

 

The Foundation appreciates all contributions. Private giving is essential because our goal is excellence rather than just maintenance. Local property taxes support basic operations, but additional financial support is needed to provide the highest quality services and facilities, as well as life-long educational and cultural experiences.

 

The Library is an accessible place where everyone can pursue the joy of reading and their cultural and educational experience. It is the gateway to information for all citizens. Information professionals on the Library staff serve as guides through the maze of highly specialized information resources now available.

The Board of Directors is comprised of local residents who are passionate about offering quality information and lifelong learning resources to the community. All spending decisions and project selections are made by the Foundation Board of Directors. The current members are:

 

  • Jennifer Gaertner, President
  • Edward C. Marth, Vice President
  • Staci Olson, Treasurer
  • Cheryl Ledbetter, Secretary
  • Maggie Brewner
  • Diane E. MacNeille
  • Sharon Maholland
  • Julie Nyquist
  • Robin Soderquist
  • Mary Ann Tilton
  • Bonnie J. Dauer, Library Board Representative
  • Judi Asselborn, Friends of St. Charles Public Library Representative

 

  • Bonnie J. Dauer
  • Michael A. Dixon
  • Claudia Frost
  • Robert T. Gephart
  • Dawn Lassiter-Brueske
  • Pamuella F. Mann
  • Craig Morgan, Jr. 
  • Thomas E. Rosensteel
  • John T. Schmidt

Contributions have supported programs and projects, such as the concert and speaker series, as well as renovations and additions to the Library building, parking lot and landscaping.

The Foundation accepts donations for specific projects as well as for the endowment fund. You can designate how your contribution is to be spent. 

Checks for tax-deductible contributions may be made payable to the St. Charles Public Library Foundation, and sent to:

 

St. Charles Public Library Foundation

One South Sixth Ave.

St. Charles, IL 60174

 

Please consider including the St. Charles Public Library Foundation in your estate plan. For more information, download the Legacy Donors brochure.

 

For more information, please email Kate Buckson or call 630-584-0076 x273

Fundraising Events

The St. Charles Public Library Foundation hosts a variety of fundraising events throughout the year. The proceeds help benefit Library services and programs.

Fundraising Events

Types of Donors

Legacy Donors

Importance of Legacy Donors:

 

The Legacy Donors are made up of people who have included the St. Charles Public Library Foundation in their estate plan because they believe in the importance of literature and reading, access to information and the promotion of cultural awareness. Their contributions are important because books and information technology are costly and changing in today’s society. Financial support from the people served by the Library is needed to maintain the highest quality library service. The Legacy Donors allows the Library Foundation to recognize and personally thank people who make this commitment.

 

How Gifts Are Used:

 

Unrestricted gifts will become part of the Foundation Endowment Fund. Interest from the Fund will be used to enhance and enrich Library collections, services and programs. An intangible but major benefit is the satisfaction of making a significant contribution to the cultural life of our community.

 

Becoming a Legacy Donor:

 

Contact the Library at 630-584-0076 x230 to obtain a donor card. You will need to sign and return this donor card to indicate that a planned gift has been made to the St. Charles Public Library Foundation. For more information, download the Legacy Donors brochure.

Donor Recognition

Donor Wall

 

The donor wall in the Library’s main lobby lists the names of individuals, organizations and businesses that have donated $1,000 or more to the Foundation. Inclusion on the wall is cumulative, so donors may advance from one category to another over the years as they continue to make donations to the Foundation. The donor categories have been named after well-known Illinois authors: Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Hemingway, Carl Sandburg, Lorraine Hansberry and Vachel Lindsay.

 

Carnegie Donors

 

Annual donations to the Library Foundation of $1,000 or more entitle the donor to membership in the Carnegie Society. Members are recognized by inclusion on the donor wall, a special pin, listing in the Annual Report and invitations to special events.

 

Legacy Donors

 

The Legacy Donors are made up of individuals who have included the St. Charles Public Library Foundation in their estate plan. Legacy Donors members are recognized by inclusion on the Legacy Donors Plaque and by invitations to special events.

Tiers of Donations

The 16th President of the United States was born on February 12, 1809, in his own words, “in the most humble walks of life.” The son of uneducated parents from Kentucky pioneer country, this “Rail Splitter from Illinois” had only one year of formal schooling. His passion for knowledge and his great love of reading and study filled the gaps in his formal education. In spite of the disadvantages of his background, he wrote some of the most eloquent speeches and letters in American literature. An assassin’s bullet silenced his voice on April 15, 1865.

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. War, death, and sports were major themes in his writing. Living in Paris in the 1920s, Hemingway became part of the “lost generation” and was influenced in his early writings by Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and Sherwood Anderson. In 1953, Hemingway won both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes for The Old Man and the Sea. He died on July 2, 1961.

Poet and Lincoln biographer Carl August Sandburg was born on January 6, 1878, in Galesburg, Illinois. Leaving school at the age of 13, Sandburg began a varied career. Sandburg was part of the “Chicago School” of writers, which also included Theodore Dreiser, Ben Hecht, Edgar Lee Masters and Sherwood Anderson. From 1920 to 1939, Sandburg wrote six volumes of Lincoln biographies. In 1940, this biography of Abraham Lincoln won a Pulitzer Prize. In 1951, his Complete Poems won the Pulitzer Prize. The two major themes of Sandburg’s work are his search for the meaning of American history and his enthusiasm for the common man. He died on July 22, 1967.

Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930. Best known as a playwright, she also was an early and active civil rights reformer. Although she left college after two years, she continued her self-education through voracious reading and by taking classes. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, in 1959 won the New York Drama Critics’ Award for the Best Play of the Year. In 1961, the film version won the Cannes Film Festival Award. Following her untimely death at the age of thirty-four in 1965, her husband Robert Nemiroff edited and published Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays of Lorraine Hansberry. The work contains selections, photographs of and drawings by Hansberry and is considered the best source of information about her life and work.

Poet Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was born in Springfield, Illinois on November 10, 1879, in a house in which Mary Todd Lincoln’s sister had lived and which had been visited often by the Lincolns. Lindsay is credited with spurring interest in poetry in the early 20th century due to his originality, eccentricity and flair for publicity. He became a popular reciter of his rhythmic, colorful and exciting poetry. In 1920, he became the first American poet to be asked to recite his poetry at Oxford University. He died on December 5, 1931.