Benny Westcott
The Sweet Home Public Library recently received a grant from the Pacific Power Foundation to improve a large dirt area in front and on the side of the library.
“That’s just been blank dirt for the last at least five years, if not longer,” Library Services Director Megan Dazey said. “So we’re going to make that so it’s an outdoor area where people can hang out. They could eat their lunch there, they could read a book, they could just hang out. It will make us a little bit more inviting and help make downtown more inviting as well.”
She plans to put up a picnic bench and new bike rack there. The area that is currently dirt will be cemented off and railing will be put in. “It will be a lot more inviting outside,” she said.
A couple months ago, Pacific Power asked for grants that will help improve communities, Dazey said. So the library applied, and the project was one of three in the region that was approved.
“They said they got a lot more than that, but they liked our idea,” she said.
Explaining her rationale for choosing the project, Dazey said “I wanted to do something for outside. We have some other grants that have taken care of a few things inside, but our outside doesn’t have very good curb appeal. So I wanted to do something that would help for that, and this one seemed to fit that agenda.”
She’s hoping the project is finished before Christmas.
In other grant news, the library also recently received a $10,000 grant from the State Library of Oregon for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which helps low income people get free or low cost internet in their house. Through the grant, the library was able to hire a person to go out into the community and meet people at the library to help them fill out paperwork to get internet access. That employee started a few weeks ago and works Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
“We have been able to sign up a handful of people already, with limited publicity,” Dazey said. “That’s five or six people who would otherwise not have internet at home.”