The Jasper Municipal Library received a donation from Kinder Morgan last week that will help to develop the child and youth section in the newly renovated facility that is set to begin construction early next month.

Judy Krefting, director of library services and Marilyn Steers, fundraising co-ordinator for the library, said they were very excited to receive the donation from the energy company on Sept. 21.

“There is very explicit use for these dollars,” said Steers. “They are meant to support the development of the children and youth area of the library.

The $5,000 donation was granted by the Kinder Morgan Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to supporting youth in communities where Kinder Morgan operates. The library has applied for and received the grant once before and said they will continue to apply for it as long as the grant is available.

“This grant is important because the child and youth section collection development is an ongoing process,” said Krefting. “Also, we need to be able to purchase appropriate furniture for our new building, computer upgrades, programming and supplies.”

All the upgrades are to be housed in the newly renovated library, though some funds from last year’s grant were used in the collection process.

“It’s very expensive to keep this (youth) section up to date, so we are fundraising for the much needed, larger space,” said Krefting. New tables, chairs, washrooms, will all be designed with young people in mind. “A lot of the new furniture out right now is really fun and it will be nice to fill the space with those things for the kids.”

Anna Marie Couture, administrator for Kinder Morgan, presented the cheque to the library board. 

“The new Jasper library is an invaluable resource for the youth of the community,” said Couture. “We’re excited to support its youth programs again this year.”

Steers said the partnership with Kinder Morgan has been great and she believes the company is building on the good partnership it developed when it did pipeline work in the park a few years ago.

“When making other grant applications, it’s good for us to have the ability to say that Kinder Morgan is a partner with us and getting those first grant dollars is very important,” said Steers. “We [the fundraising committee] have made the decision, when canvassing for donations, to go to the big businesses that are benefiting from Jasper.”

The Kinder Morgan Foundation organization focuses on education, arts and environmental programs.  Keep an eye on the Fitzhugh for more on the library expansion project. This week, the library is in the process of getting ready to move to a temporary location at the activity centre where it will be housed while construction is underway.