Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank gift puts Robey Memorial Library expansion project at 60% of capital campaign goal

Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank of Waukon and Decorah has pledged to contribute $75,000 to the Robey Memorial Library Expansion Project Capital Campaign, boosting the campaign to 60% of its fundraising goal.
“Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank is pleased to financially support this library expansion project and its campaign,” said Nancy Schoh, Chief Operating Officer and Cashier at the bank. “I am a volunteer on this campaign and Brian Mahoney, Senior Vice President, is on the library board of trustees. We realize the need to expand our public library and the many benefits library expansion will bring to the entire Waukon community.”
The Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank gift brings the total funds raised in the capital campaign to $840,000 in gifts and pledges toward the funding need of $1.4 million.
“Supporting this library project fits well with the mission of our bank,” said Schoh.  “Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank is a community bank serving northeast Iowa since 1925 and has contributed to numerous community projects during that time,” she added.
“We are delighted to have this generous gift to help our campaign reach its goal,” said Campaign Co-Chair Ken Olson, MD. “This major gift, along with the recent generous support from the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors, join the leadership gift the City of Waukon decided on several weeks ago to get us to over halfway to our financial need."
The Robey Memorial Library volunteers and staff have been planning a library expansion project for close to 10 years. The expansion will nearly double the current size of the library. “We have seen increased use in many areas at the library,” reports Rick Meyer, Robey Memorial Library Director. “This increase in use, along with the plans to have on hand more library items, creates the needs for expansion. Visits to the library have increased approximately 31 percent since 2010 and library program attendance has increased approximately 18 percent since 2009.”
“Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank has a long history of supporting the Waukon community and a history with the Robey Memorial Library,” Schoh said. “Isabel Jacobson, a former board member at the bank, served as the president of the library board of trustees for over 20 years. The board of directors and staff understand how important it is to improve our community assets when we have the opportunity. The library is one of those community assets and expanding it can improve life for all.”
“This generous gift along with the other major gifts our campaign has received to date join many other gifts of all sizes to add up to the $840,000 raised to date,” Olson said.  “We have about 25 active volunteers working on this campaign. They are contacting people and businesses to explain the benefits of expanding the library and then provide the opportunity for anyone to give or make a pledge to help this expansion. We have had many people make a pledge payable over three years and we have had contributors give a gift of stock which is a beneficial way of charitable giving. If you want a campaign volunteer to visit with you or wish to make a gift, please contact our library director, Rick Meyer, at the library, 563-568-4424. Our campaign volunteers aren’t pushy, but we just want to make sure you understand the reasons for expansion and the benefits this project will bring to all. We welcome the financial support of everyone to reach our goal."
Campaign volunteers and library staff have also placed some of the information about this expansion project and campaign on the library website at www.waukon.lib.ia.us.