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In our last newsletter, we announced two big moves! The first was that Jane and the HJH Libraries For All Foundation moved to Fort Collins, and the second was that the San Juan del Sur Biblioteca is in the process of moving to a new location just a few blocks over.
Our new address in Fort Collins:
Hester J Hodgdon Libraries For All
4562 Joydance Court
Fort Collins, CO 80524
When we secured our lease on the new building, it needed a lot of renovations and TLC to make it into a functioning library. Our staff has been hard at work getting the library ready for us to move in as soon as possible. We anticipate moving into the new space within in mid-July if everything continues to go as planned. |
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 | Before and after painting. |
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As of now, we have completed the following renovations:
- Installed a new metal roof
- Rewired electricity throughout the building, added circuit breakers, space for lights and fans
- Removed walls in three rooms to make space for larger activity rooms
- Installed a dry-wall ceiling (so we can hang lights and fans!)
We need to complete these renovations before we can move in:
- Install new doors and add a window at the front of the building
- Upgrade the bathroom facilities
- Install circulating fans and lights
- Paint the walls
- Power wash and refinish flooring
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 | Edwin showing you our drywall ceilings mid-installation! He is standing in the room that will be the children’s activity room area. |
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We still need to fundraise $15,000 to complete these renovations! Please help us bridge the gap so we can continue to move forward and make progress on the new building. We are so grateful to all of those who have already donated to this massive project. We are a small organization that relies 100% on donations from our supporters. We could not be where we are without you, and we certainly cannot go where we need to go without you by our side.
Our Match for the Move Campaign is still going on. All donations made now through July 15th will be matched up to $10,000! We need your support to keep renovations moving along and our regular programming functioning!
Have an idea for fundraising? We would love to hear it! Please reach out to [email protected] so we can partner together to create this new space! |
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We are fortunate that, throughout our renovation these past few months, the old library building has been able to remain open. Our children’s room is available, our computer lab is open to the public, and our meeting rooms and classroom space are still being utilized by several different groups from the San Juan del Sur Community. The mobile project is still operating, visiting 37 schools on a regular basis, all while we reconstruct a new home for the library. |
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A look back on our previous renovation in 2014:
In 2014, the library had outgrown its space across from Jane’s hotel and needed to relocate to a larger space. Much like our new building, this building needed a lot of renovations too!
Recently, Jane spoke with Anneen Barrera who is a longtime friend, volunteer, and library supporter. Anneen remembered our last move vividly and shared her memory with Jane during one of their phone chats. Anneen, better known to many of us as Mercedes, shared a fond memory with her local librarian in 2014. The library was closed while we tore down walls, painted, and renovated the building. She recalled it was a melting hot week and while she was helping with the construction, the children would arrive on the doorstep wanting to come in. Heidy and Anneen rushed to finish a room so they could set up the children’s section with books and have a safe space for them while we finished updating other areas of the building. She said that, everyday while we worked on the new space, the library was still full of children enjoying their precious library. Now, we are on the move again from that location to yet another one that we hope will be the best one yet! |
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| This week on the Mobile Project! Edwin reading to the children. |
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| A local teen group meeting in the kid’s activity room |
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| Our patio space bursting at the seams with a group that meets regularly in the library. |
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| Freyseer teaching English classes in the children’s room. |
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| The VanBerschot family volunteering on the mobile project this week |
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| Denis, Katia, and Norman sorting through books to clean up our collections before they are moved to the new building. |
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| Jane in the front entrance where the new window will be placed. |
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A note from Jane:
Hello all, Jane here reporting to you from Nicaragua!
Most of the walls in the new location need prepping, repair, and painting. The paint and wall repair expense is roughly $1500. A window will be installed where the cement block area is in the front of the building leading into the reception area, (see photo with above) which will cost about $600. Some small tinkering with bathroom areas and moving and replacing fixtures is next which will be under $400. We will use two of the bathrooms and convert the third to storage space. The small ceiling fans for each area need to be purchased, and that will be about $900. The floors will not be replaced but power cleaned and refinished. A few doors will be refinished, and a few more will need to be purchased for under $500.
We are all deeply grateful for the support to pull this off to this point, but we are well underfunded at this moment and the only time we have is now. We are down to the bare bones for funding to complete these essential renovations.
Please consider this my personal request for your financial help at this more than critical point in time! So much depends on moving forward in the best possible way. I am
trusting that the financial help we need to properly move into the renovated space will come. Let’s do this!
We are on hold with getting electricity until the inspector comes back from Masaya, and I need to ask the cost of hooking up to the transformer. We also need to give 3 days notice to the internet provider to switch the hook ups to the new building.
Looking ahead at what is to come, the bodega will need a cement floor and doors, but that will come later and is not needed before the move. The patio will need some landscaping and a little lattice around the outside, and the water tower base needs repair as well.
Four weeks is optimistic, but we are hoping that, by mid-July, we will be able to move in. Several walk-throughs have occurred with our construction volunteer extraordinaire, Major Gerald Boeke, myself, Edwin, and others. The final placements and room usages are set and seem well planned. There are two dedicated children’s areas. There will be a reading room where most of the books will reside and an open activity room with games and the tables that leads out to the patio and flows into the corridor.
We are using the time to go through everything in the old library building. We are sorting, giving away and reviewing the collections as well. Shelves are being emptied and taken to the patio to be refinished by Deni, and the storage bins have all been sorted and are ready to be moved. All of this is going well while everyday library functions continue uninterrupted!
We couldn’t do this without our amazing librarians in San Juan del Sur who go above and beyond and certainly not without the cherished support of our donors who make all of this possible.
This is a grand adventure, Jane |
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New mailing address: Here is the HJH Libraries For All new mailing address. We have received notice from a few supporters that our mail is not being forwarded as it should be. We are working on the mail forwarding but please be sure to send everything to our new address! |
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Hester J Hodgdon Libraries For All
4562 Joydance Court
Fort Collins, CO 80524 |
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We are registered as Hester J. Hodgdon Libraries for All. Please donate today with the PayPal or JustGiving buttons above OR by check made payable to:
Hester J Hodgdon Libraries
4562 Joydance Court
Fort Collins, CO 80524 |
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