GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Grand Haven's Loutit District Library received a $10,000 gift from the Carnegie Foundation as part of a nationwide celebration of the country's upcoming 250th birthday.
WATCH: Loutit District Library gets $10,000 for nation's 250th birthday
The Carnegie Foundation is distributing $10,000 gifts to over 1,000 libraries across the country as the nation's capital prepares for the semiquincentennial celebration.
The Library's manager for community engagement, Chelsea Payton explained that the funding comes at a great time and said everyone at the branch is excited about the possibilities.
"Funding has been tighter with things going on with libraries and budgets and such," Payton explained. "Everyone was saying may this will help now."
This marks the second time the library has received a donation from the Carnegie Foundation. The library was first established in 1914 thanks to a similar gift from Carnegie.
Payton said some of the latest funds will be used for programming to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary, while the rest could go toward infrastructure needs or other programming.
"It will be available for us to use next year. And the special thing about it is, usually whenever we have a grant or something, it's for a specific usage, this specific instance it's not we can use it for whatever we would like," Payton said.
The funding boost is welcomed by daily users like Mark Soderstrom, who visits the library every day before his morning run.
"I start here, and everyday I go and check what's in the cheapstacks library… and many times I will buy books and audiobooks for while I run… when I'm done with them I come back, bring them back and they re-sell them and it's a win win for everybody," Soderstrom said.
Soderstrom said he's excited to see what the future holds for the library.
"I'm delighted to hear them getting that money, that recognition because they deserve it," Soderstrom said. "I love this library, I've recommended it to many of my friends."
