Foundation Stories

Growing up in Port Arthur, TX, I remember my mom had a friend who was a school librarian. She was my first exposure to that career path. Over time, my interest in pursuing that same path blossomed and she became my mentor. Being a librarian always resonated with me through school. I always had a strong curiosity and reflecting now, I am a lifetime learner.

After graduating college, my first job was… a school librarian! I decided to embark on my library career in the city at the origin of the Kansas City Southern Railway line in Kansas City, as Port Arthur was the terminus. My first job was with the Shawnee Mission District. Being a school librarian brought me much joy, as I loved fostering literacy, learning and education with the students.

Flash forward, after taking time off to raise my family, I was appointed to the Johnson County Library Board and was back in the library world. I also subsequently worked with the Johnson County Library Foundation Board for many years, focusing on fundraising to support the Library’s collection and programming.

Now, in retirement, one of my greatest pleasures is reading to my granddaughters. I also volunteer in a school library and my career has come full circle.

Why do I give?
I believe the future of the library is to continue to foster communication. Access to information is vital and facts are the drivers. Some institution has to be in charge of the facts, and I believe that institution is the library.

I feel strongly that our library is important, not just to me, but to all who use it, and even those who don’t. Even if unused, a library stands for something important. I greatly want this institution to endure and prosper.

I continue to volunteer with the Library Foundation, specifically with the “1952 Society: Writing the Library’s Next Chapter”, the planned giving initiative kicking-off this year. Ensuring the future of our Library through planned gifts is vital to me. I would not feel comfortable asking others to make this commitment without first making it myself and have chosen to make a gift to the Library in my will.

To be good stewards of this place we love, we must consider the future. Yes, legacy gifts to the library have always been an option. But today we are making a promise to ourselves, and to our library, that we will work to build the 1952 Society. We will identify and encourage those who care as much as we do to leave a legacy. The name we chose, The 1952 Society, references the past. But, without a doubt, it will be those who look to the future that will insure our library brings value to other lives well beyond our own.

• Caroline McKnight

Where to begin? Companionship is a good place. The characters in books were my earliest friends, as our neighborhood was short on children. Some of these literary friends were animals, which was fun. Books brought adventure and magic like houses made of candy and carpets that flew. You could time-travel back to ancient Egypt or China. You could learn to draw, to make things, to read a foreign language. The library was a Treasure House!

When I was a child we didn’t yet have television, and Johnson County didn’t yet have a public library. If my mother couldn’t drive me, I thought nothing about walking from Old Mission Hills to the Kansas City public library in Southwest High School. I have always had a love of libraries.

Books provided such joy and education that it was an easy decision to choose librarianship as an occupation. I got a Master of Library Science from Simmons College in Boston and later spent many happy years as the reference librarian at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO. I loved learning something new every day. A reference librarian doesn’t necessarily know the answers but sure knows where to find them.

Today I live in Cambridge, MA, and most of my family still lives in Kansas City, so I’m back to visit three times a year. I always visit the library and am grateful for all the cookbooks I’ve borrowed and for the online databases I use like ValueLine. It’s impressive how many wonderful community outreach programs the Library provides. It’s amazing all the new ideas that come through libraries!

Why do I give to the Johnson County Library Foundation?

As libraries evolve and grow, I believe it’s more important now than ever that the community gives back to support these services. One of my favorite quotes is on the Boston Public Library building: “The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as the safeguard of order and liberty.” A strong democracy is dependent on an educated citizenry.

• Josephine Foote

Note: Your  charitable contribution supports the JCL Foundation mission so your dollars will directly fund Johnson County Library programs, services, and the growth of the collection of more than 1 million items. Your donation changes lives. Thank you!

I’m not the stereotypical library patron. My reading list is embarrassingly light and I take months or years to work through a single book. Despite this, I recognize that the Johnson County Library is a treasure. I regularly find myself in awe of its breadth of offerings and impact on our community. Like most libraries, you can borrow books there, but Johnson County Library is so much more than books! It is a hub for the community’s access to information, entertainment, education, and civic engagement. It is truly world-class, and I’m extremely grateful that it’s here for me to enjoy.

Johnson County Library’s extensive offerings enrich my life in so many ways. I’ve spent my lunch break learning new languages with Mángo and Rosetta Stone. I’ve booked meeting rooms to explore creative and collaborative endeavors with my friends. I love that I can tinker in the Black & Veatch MakerSpace, and the library makes it easy to interact with local legislators through the Legislative Coffee program.

I can’t imagine building an organization as superb as Jonson County Library. Growing up in rural Missouri, our hometown library staff was genuinely dedicated to serving the community, but a lack of funding and community support made it difficult to expand or even maintain their offerings. This is in stark contrast to JCL and makes me appreciate our library that much more.

I give to the Johnson County Library Foundation because we are privileged to have this library in our community, and I believe it is up to us to support its mission however possible. The Library staff are among the most devoted and open-minded individuals I’ve ever encountered. Every time I interact with them I am impressed by how seriously they take the library’s mission, values, and vision. I know institutions like JCL are grown over decades and virtually impossible to replicate, and I want to ensure that the library remains vibrant for many decades to come.

Garmin graciously matches my donation to the Foundation via United Way. I love that I double the impact of my support by teaming up with my employer. If you’re considering donating, see if your organization will match your contribution.

– Tyler Harms

I am a self-proclaimed word nerd and book geek. Nothing makes me happier than being in the middle of a good book and knowing there is another one waiting for me. The credit for this must go to my mother, a voracious reader and library patron. She had a love of reading and a limited budget; the library provided the perfect solution.

Every Tuesday night was library night for my mom, my sister and me. It was such a thrill to go to the Children’s Section by myself and pick out the books I wanted. As time passed, I fell in love with mysteries, classic fiction, plays and cookbooks. And where could I find all of these for free? At the library!

To pass on the love of reading, I started taking our sons to the Corinth Library from a very young age. Miss Uppie and Miss Leslie were the librarians and always had a smile and if needed, recommendations. We attended many programs such as “Reading with your Pet,” “Origami” and “Pokeman Parties.” Our boys, now 27 and 24, still use and love the library. Our oldest uses the Johnson County Library online resources frequently and our youngest, who now lives in New York, had to call a week after he moved to tell me that he had been to the New York Public Library to get his card.

To quote Lady Bird Johnson, “Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.”

Libraries represent a great equalizer in our society. All are welcome and encouraged to become patrons. They provide books, magazines, genealogy information, meeting rooms, Maker Spaces, Internet access, author talks and a variety of programs. My book club reserves a meeting room once a year to plan out what we want to read. We can stroll through the stacks and chose titles and topics of interest to share with the group.

People say that no one reads “actual” books anymore, yet the Johnson County Library system checks out more than 7,000,000 items a year. Many of those items are eBooks, and I do appreciate the convenience of reading on my iPad, but nothing beats having a real book in your hands. As our world changes, so does the library. It continues to evolve, grow and provide wonderful resources for our community.

Why do I give to the Johnson County Library Foundation? I believe that in any great society we need access to free materials across all economic barriers, and the Library provides that service in our community. It is important to me to be involved and support the important work and programs throughout this system.

-Barbara Nichols 

A quick interview with Johnson County Library  Foundation Volunteer Extraordinaire Beth Welsh.  

Why did you initially become a volunteer with the Johnson County Library Foundation?

I was in a place where I was feeling stuck in rut and was looking for new experiences. Also, I work from home and I wanted to get out of the house and interact with people. My husband Barry is a longtime volunteer for the Library and it seemed like it would be a good fit. I’m a lifetime learner, I always want to be learning new things, I don’t want to stagnate. I began volunteering at Friends book sales in 2007 and became a fill-in cashier for the Friends bookstores in 2011. Volunteering for the Foundation struck me as a fun opportunity to learn new things. I learned WordPress and social media marketing. Fortunately, I didn’t have to learn anything about grant writing!

What are some of your favorite things about being a volunteer?

I love getting to play with books and be around librarians. Library people are awesome – and that includes Foundation people! They’re smart, inquisitive and well informed.

Have you had any discoveries about the Library or the Foundation working as a volunteer?

The Foundation was a new discovery; I didn’t know anything about it before volunteering. I learned about the Foundation’s mission to build an endowment for the Library’s collection and find support for lifelong learning programs offered at the Library. I also discovered the Foundation events. The Pinnacle Awards, Library Lets Loose, Stay Home and Read a Book Ball and elementia. My favorite Foundation event is the Library Lets Loose – it’s pretty amazing. elementia is also a fun event tied to a great mission to encourage teen writers and artists.

Any advice for people who might be on the fence about volunteering?

Try it! There are so many outlets for volunteering at the Library. Visit a branch, or the Friends sorting center or bookstore – see what interests you. Volunteer coordinators can connect you with a volunteer opportunity that works with your schedule and meets your interests. If it sounds like fun, give it a shot.