The Uhrichsville branch of the Claymont Public Library will be greatly expanding in space in the coming years with the acquisition of the former Christian Fellowship Church building next door.
 
The Dennison Rotary Club purchased the church building at 217 E. Third St. for $50,000 and is donating it to the library.  Christian Fellowship had vacated the building after it constructed a new church.  
 
The Uhrichsville branch is out of space, and the library board has been talking over the years about what it can do to resolve the problem, said Bob Michels, who is president of the board and also a member of the Rotary Club who presented the idea to purchase the building to the Rotary Club.  The donation by the club will solve that problem.
 
Once a renovation project is completed, patrons will enter the library through the current church entrance. Beyond that will be the circulation desk and a computer center. The back of the library will be devoted to the adult collection, explained Library Executive Director Donna Moody
 
The current entrance to the library will be closed, and most of the space in the front part of the current library will be devoted to the children’s collection, she said.  The Dennison Rotary Club recently obtained a Local District Grant through Rotary District 6650 to purchase Learning aids, comfort furniture, book cases, learning material display cases and manipulative activities to enhance the children’s area which the club entitled “Imagination Station”.  The grant and Club portion of the project adds over $1,900 of educational aids to the children’s area of the library.
 
There will be multiple entries through the wall between the two buildings,  the church basement has a full kitchen, and library officials want to keep that.
 
Renovation work will be done in phases. The top priority now is replacing the roof on the church building and then renovating the first floor. That work should be done in about a year, Michels said.
The library’s central down-town location provides ease of accessibility to the people of our communities;  The Dennison Club supports the Dennison, Uhrichsville and rural area outside of the communities which makes up the entire Claymont School District.  “I feel the downtown is vital to us; our programming is one of the best kept secrets in the area, the central location makes the library system accessible and therefore busy and eventful.”
 
“Making the donation of the building helps fulfill the goals of Rotary International” according to John Clark, the Dennison club’s president.
 
“The goals of Rotary are to: promote peace by bridging cultures, to fight disease (Rotary is at the forefront of the worldwide effort to eliminate polio), provide clean water, support education by fighting illiteracy and in the process poverty, to save mothers and children and grow local economies,” he said in a statement.
 
“So you can see why the Dennison Rotary Club’s investing $50,000 in the building to expand the Uhrichsville/Dennison library meets these goals, especially supporting education, fighting illiteracy and growing the local economy.”
 
He said the donation is also Rotary’s contribution to the restoration of downtown Uhrichsville.
 
“There is a growing energy and 922 pride in the Twin Cities and Rotary is an integral part of that effort,” Clark said.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
L to R:  (Library) Greg DiDonato Dennison Club 2018-2019 president, Bob Michels, club member, past 3-term club president/ president of the library board or directors, John Clark Dennison Club  2017-2018 President,  & Donna Moody, Executive Director of the Claymont Public Library system.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Greg DiDonato Dennison Club 2018-2019 president, John Clark Dennison Club  2017-2018 President, Donna Moody, Executive Director of the Claymont Public Library system, Bob Michels, club member, past 3-term club president/ president of the library board or directors.