Stuff's Happening...

Well, the library is coming along right on schedule. We were a bit worried the first week of construction when a dump truck full of fill dirt fell into a septic tank on the property! Yup. I have no idea why we didn't know it was there, but it was. No one was hurt. Except our bank account. We sustained a $16,334 increase on the project cost, as the septic tank drain lines ran right under our building. So they had to be removed and replaced with good material to build on top.

As you drive by the site you can see activity there just about every day. But we have also been doing a little work behind the scenes:

On January 16 fellow Indian Land resident Trish Douglas accompanied me to a meeting with the architect's staff about carpet and other flooring, countertops, doors, bathrooms, etc. We had a marathon day of choosing color schemes and all that. One item that had already been predetermined was the cork flooring we will have inside the main entrance to the library. It will be a fairly good sized area. Cork is a beautiful, natural product with an organic feel, so we jumped off of that with our carpet and other choices. We incorporated colors that would be reminiscent of the Catawbas and lends a feel of back-to-nature. Our next outing will be to go choose furniture.

We have also been doing some fairly significant fund raising. Not the door-to-door kind, but we have been working on sources of funds to help close the gap, which currently stands at $400,000. Here are a couple things that have happened:

• We received $20,000 from the Lancaster County Partners for Youth. This will fund both study rooms! YAY!
  
• We are in the process of re-applying to the Springs Close Foundation for a grant. We applied two years ago and they denied our application, saying they would consider it again when the library was open. However, we need the funds in order to open the library, so we are trying again. We are asking for $75,000.
• We are also requesting $200,000 from the state of South Carolina under their SC Competitive Grants Program. I wish I could tell you more about what this is, but I've somehow lost track of the email. I'll get the information and post it here. But essentially I think it's a program to help communities with projects like this. We have to have a legislator sponsor us, so Mick Mulvaney wrote us a letter of support, and we have the support of Representative Joseph Neal, who is on the Ways and Means Committee.

So there you have it! Stuff is happening!

We are also getting questions weekly about the next festival, which is scheduled for Saturday, September 27.