Our journey for the renovation of the Downtown Public Library began a few years ago when our New Members raised $80,000 in a few short months to renovate the Eastside branch of the public library. Since then, the Eastside Library has become more accessible to our community’s youth, and has even attracted teenage boys who have started playing chess after school. This new draw to the teen population on the Eastside is largely due to the Junior League’s efforts, which made the Martin Luther King Room a place where teens in the community want to be. This project sparked excitement for an even larger scale project, and this year we have a unique and exciting opportunity to make a long-lasting impact by contributing to the fundraising efforts that will support a complete renovation of the children’s area of the Santa Barbara Downtown Public Library.

We are currently collaborating with the Santa Barbara Public Library to create an inspiring new children’s area in the current basement of the library. To our delight, the entire basement (6,000 sq ft) has been allocated to what will be the new children’s space, which is being designed to accommodate children ages 0-12. The project will include interior design, programming and volunteer coordination, as well as new elements for performing arts, crafts, and a computer center. An architect has been selected and design phase is well underway.

Our goal is to raise $150,000 by May 2012. With the help of your generous donation, we will be able to raise enough money to help create a fantastic new children’s area for the Downtown Santa Barbara Public Library, as well as implement new programming to enrich the lives of children in our area and to greatly improve our community. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your contribution.