Rotary grants totaling $8,000, plus a $1,000 donation from an anonymous supporter, will help Friends of the Cambria Library match a $140,000 challenge grant from the Hind Foundation. The funds will help shorten Cambria’s $1.4 million fundraising trek toward having a fully outfitted new library. Jeri Farrell, president of the Friends of the Cambria Library, said at the July 27 donation ceremony that it will only take another $75,000 to meet the Hind challenge. The county is paying for half the cost of the new library; the local community must provide the rest through donations and Friends’ many fundraising efforts during the past 20 years, according to Supervisor Bruce Gibson. The $8,000 was comprised of a Rotary District 5240 grant and donations from two Cambria Rotary Clubs. Those funds are earmarked for a six-station computer facility within the new library, available to all but especially targeting young people whose families don’t have Internet access. Local Rotarians also will maintain the computer facility, according to Greg Sanders, president of the Rotary Club of Cambria. Shown above, from left, are: Gibson; Farrell; Sanders; Linda Finley, president of Rotary Club Sunrise Centennial; and Greg Hind of the Hind Foundation. He said the $140,000 challenge grant — a larger than usual award for the small foundation — was given because there’s such a high level of local support for the new library and “it’s such a good project” that will benefit the entire community. On Tuesday, July 31, Farrell was to have had her first in-depth planning meeting with county officials about the nuts and bolts of getting the new library ready for its patrons. — Kathe Tanner

CAMBRIAN PHOTO BY KATHE TANNER