Nonprofits receive, explain uses of annual donations
Libraries, VNA, historical society give updates on their activities
Four local groups have received their annual donations from Montgomery Township, and each says the help from the township goes a long way.
The supervisors presented checks Monday night to the North Penn Visiting Nurse Community Services, the North Wales Area Library, the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library, and the Montgomery Township Historical Society, and heard updates from each on what they are working on.
“This is the 16th year we’ve received support from Montgomery Township, so I’m very grateful and very thankful, from the bottom of my heart, for all of the support we’ve received,” said Richard Cirko, executive director of the Visiting Nurses Association Community Services.
The Visiting Nurse Association Community Services is a nonprofit founded in 1919 with offices across Montgomery County that helps provide medical and social services to those in need, from children to seniors, and Cirko said the $1,500 donation from the township will help the VNA continue those services.
“We provide services to the elderly, to help them remain in their homes; to the most vulnerable, and we have a children’s nurse-managed health center, to help them to be ready for school and make sure they’re healthy, with their vaccines up to date,” he said.
The North Wales Area Library received a $1,500 check from the board, and library Director Jayne Blackledge said Montgomery Township is the secondlargest source of visitors to the library, ahead of North Wales itself.
“In 2016, we had 1,751 residents of Montgomery Township that used the library. As of July 2017, we had 1,922, which is a wonderful increase,” she said.
On a typical Tuesday, the North Wales library hosts story time for kids in the morning, fitness lessons for adults, financial classes for seniors, and an electrical testing class for future electricians to earn certifications, in addition to the normal lending of books, videos, and other services — and in a new library program, staff will personalize a book for any new baby born in the library’s coverage area. High on the library’s priority list these days, Blackledge said, is a fundraising campaign to match a $100,000 donation from a library member, and if the library raises $100,000 by Dec. 31 it will have paid off its mortgage, which began as an $800,000 borrowing in 2010.
“Just think of what we’ll be able to do with those additional funds, no longer paying the mortgage. That will begin to go to things that people in the community need, and it’s through donations like yours that make the difference,” she said.
Kathy Arnold-Yerger, executive director of the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library, said Montgomery’s $10,000 donation will help fund county programs like the Bookmobile that now stops on a regular schedule at Montgomery’s Community and Recreation center on Stump Road.
“We now are up here every Thursday from 12 to 7 (p.m.), and every Friday morning: every week, the same day, the same time, to make it simple for people to use the Bookmobile and to use our resources,” she said.
Last month, the Norristown library also took part in the township’s Kids University summer program for the second year, Arnold-Yerger told the board.
“We did a great program, 58 kids participated, and they took simple paper plates and made fish — whatever kind of fish they wanted, they could use their imaginations,” she said.
The Montgomery Township Historical Society also received a donation of $6,000 from the township, and the society’s board of directors President Lisa Knapp Siegel said last year’s donation from the township has gone into new doors for the Knapp House, which dates back to roughly the 1760s and which the society works to preserve. A fundraiser in April helped raise money for preservation efforts, and Knapp Siegel said the society is now focusing on upkeep of the grounds of the Knapp Farm and organizing recent additions to their collections.
“We are also in the midst of really trying to get our archives in much better shape, so we can be a better resource for the community. Part of that will be digitalization of pictures and articles and documents — we have a lot of material that needs to be taken care of, and this money from you will be a very big help with that,” she said.