The Camp Verde Community Library was awarded $20,000 from the Camp Verde Library Endowment to help fund projects and resources over the next year.
The money was funded through the overflow of over 20 years of fundraising by the CVLE with a goal of benefiting the library and its programs.
Library Director Kathy Hellman said the award will go toward funding a variety of projects over the next year, including several adult programs such as Music in the Stacks. It will also pay for the library’s subscription to BiblioBoard, software that provides tools and services to library users and authors. The grant will also help supplement a $3,000 donation from the Friends of Camp Verde Library that will go toward purchasing AWE Learning Computers for the Children’s Library.
It will also supplement another grant to help pay for a project the library is working on with Yavapai Broadcasting to support workforce development in Camp Verde.
The CVLE was founded in 2000 thanks to Dorothy Wood, and partners Charlie German, Yona Ash, Betty Chester, Phil England, Pat Hjalmarson, Vada Lovato, Baltazar Lozano, Sharon Massey and Fred Sanchez, who created the nonprofit organization to raise money to build a new library. The fruits of their labor were seen in 2016 when the Camp Verde Community Library was built, but their mission didn’t end there. In 2018, CVLE reached their goal of raising $500,000, which was invested with and is managed by the Arizona Community Foundation, to create a permanent source of funding for the library.
“It gives us great pleasure to see all our hard work paying back dividends in our community,” CVLE President Ambie Charles said in a statement.
Through the Arizona Community Foundation, the endowment works as an investment that increases and decreases along with the stock market. The goal is to keep the funds around at least $500,000 so that the organization can withdraw money annually from whatever is earned that year.
“The CVLE Board manages the distribution of the funds and continues to add to the endowment total through money raised using Bashas’ Community cards, items sold at the library’s corner in Sweet Pea and the occasional fundraiser,” Hellman said. “Camp Verde Community Library is the sole beneficiary of any and all grants made by the CVLE Board through the disbursement of the ACF Designated Fund.”
The $20,000 granted to the library this month was the second check received from CVLE. The first was a grant of $15,000 in 2019. Both the $20,000, and any future funding the library receives from the CVLE and the Friends of Camp Verde Library group will continue to support the library and its programs for years to come.
“[These funds] allow the library to expand programs and services in many of the less traditional ways,” Hellman said. “Expanding cultural opportunities and experiences, supporting workforce development and family programming, helping people of all ages bridge the digital divide with access to technology and experienced tech-assistance, to name a few.”
For more information about the CVLE, visitcampverdeaz.gov.
