The library in Alberton received a Libri Foundation Grant to purchase more children’s books. The grant was in the amount of $1,050. The grant required 2:1 matching and the Alberton Helping Hands organization supplied the $350 needed for the matching funds.

“We applied for the grant when Guna (Chaberek) told me that the library in Superior wasn’t going to be applying and so we did,” said Connie Acker from Friends of the Library, Alberton Branch.

Acker said that they needed the grant because the library could use more books for the library’s story time.

“A majority of the donations that come in are for adults,” Acker said. “There were areas where we needed more books for kids. At a young age, they read through a lot and we thought we could use the opportunity to build up our children’s section.”

Acker said that she is very grateful to Helping Hands for picking up the entire amount of matching funds. “Helping Hands is just a wonderful group. They are very involved in the community and very aware of the community,” Acker said.

Ronnie Johnson, the vice president of Alberton Helping Hands, said that the group’s main objective is to raise money in order to help out those in need whether providing someone with propane or helping out in an emergency.

“We are real interested in keeping our library open and that’s why we donated the money,” Johnson said. “We want to keep it open for our seniors and the young people. Since (Acker) started to read to the toddlers at story time, it seems to have come a long way. We’d like to see it continue.”

Johnson pointed out that the one of the main fundraiser’s for the organization in which businesses donate items to be auctioned off is an important reason the group was able to help out.

“It’s because of the businesses contributions. At the auction on December 4, we made over four thousand dollars, which was wonderful,” Johnson said.