Fundraising Drive Passes Three-Quarter Million Dollar Mark!

Nathaniel J. Mouse scampered past the $750,000 mark on the grandfather clock outside Clapp Memorial Library on June 2.  Nathaniel’s climb up the side of the clock depicts the total amount of private funding pledged in support of the library’s planned renovation and expansion project.  His recent rise to the three-quarter-million dollar level was fueled by two major recent contributions: $50,000 from Country Bank for Savings, and $65,000 from the Friends of the Clapp Memorial Library. 

The $50,000 pledge from Country Bank for Savings was formally made in a brief ceremony at the library on May 7, 2009.  Bank President Paul Scully presented a symbolic check to Steve Lanphear, President of the library’s board of trustees.   

Mr. Scully said that the library project impressed the bank’s board of directors, in part because of the large number of people being served in the nineteenth-century structure.  “After all,” he said, “Country Bank was founded in 1850, so we understand the need for updating historical institutions in order to continue meeting the needs of people in the twenty-first century.” 

The $65,000 pledge from the Friends of the Clapp Memorial Library was formally presented on June 2.  This was the second time in the past two years the organization has contributed to the Clapp for Community capital campaign.  The Friends initially launched the campaign with a $100,000 pledge which has since been paid in full.   In presenting the Friends’ latest pledge, Martha Shea, Vice-President of the organization, pointed out that, because they are in the library almost every day, members of the Friends organization know how many people depend on its services, and understand what a great benefit the renovated and expanded library will be to the people of Belchertown. 

 

[Top photo: Steve Lanphear and Loy Harris move the Nathaniel ‘pointer’ past the $750,000 mark. Photo by Walter Coombs.] 

[Center Photo: Country Bank’s Paul Scully, Owen Maloney, Knowlton Utley, Loy Harris, Steve Lanphear. Photo by Gene McSweeney.] 

[Bottom photo: Steve Lanphear, Loy Harris, Friends V.P. Martha Shea, and Owen Maloney.  Photo by Walter