Southwest Gas donates nearly $3,000 to Friends of the Carson City Library
The Friends of the Carson City Library received a donation from the Southwest Gas Foundation for $2,850 to develop the library’s creative learning department for school-aged children, including Makerspace abilities.
The funds are helping launch a Maker’s Club for elementary school-aged children at the library and at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada and Empire Elementary School. The purpose is to cultivate a student’s connection to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).
Project planning kicked off in January, and the club will offer Makerspace equipment — including a 3D Makerbot printer — to take to the off-site program locations. The club will also gain the supplies necessary for STEAM projects, from a button maker to robot parts and electrical tape.
The Southwest Gas Foundation had given the Friends $500 two years in a row recently. Patti Cooper-Smith, Friends of the Carson City Library president, took notice of this and decided to reach out to the foundation — which in turn asked what was needed.
“There’s money out there but you have to go to people with specific requests,” Cooper-Smith said, adding that she went to the library to nail down a definite, relevant need the foundation could address. “People need to know what they’re getting for their money, even if it’s a donation. So that’s my focus and I’m hoping I can do more of that.”
Dr. Tod Colegrove, director of the Carson City Library, explained how the donation is helping to reboot the Makerspace program.
“It really is phenomenal what Southwest Gas and the Friends are doing,” he said. “I don’t think people always fully understand just how far an additional $500 or $3,000 can go in the library – it’s a real force multiplier. This donation helps move the library closer to where it needs to be: fanning sparks of interest into the flames of learning and inspiration that can feed Carson City’s kids from cradle to career, whether technical trades, arts or sciences. Libraries change lives.”
About the Carson City Library
The library serves a city of more than 54,000 people and several outlying communities. As a center for knowledge and discovery, the library is committed to inspiring learning, facilitating connection and creating opportunity for its community. The library is a regional leader with its focus on workforce and STEM-skill development for all ages. For more information, visit www.carsoncitylibrary.org and follow the library on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Join the libraries funding conversation online with the hashtag #FundLibraries.
- Carson City
- Carson City Library
- 000
- all ages
- arts
- Career
- carson
- center
- children
- City
- club
- Clubs
- community
- Community,
- conversation
- Development
- donation
- electrical
- Elementary School
- Empire
- Empire Elementary School
- Engineering
- equipment
- foundation
- friends
- Friends of the Carson City
- Friends of the Carson City Library
- funding
- Gas
- Helping
- information
- JOIN
- kids
- Kids!
- learning
- libraries
- maker
- makerspace
- money
- need
- Nevada
- News
- online
- Opportunity
- planning
- President
- program
- regional
- school
- science
- Southwest Gas
- Sparks
- STEAM
- Technology
- western
- Workforce
- Library