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Monetary, book donations bolster library


One of El Progreso Memorial Library’s most popular fundraising efforts is book enrichment fund generated through memorial and honor donations. Over the months of August and September, the library received $1,101 in monetary donations and books valued at $50.

Library director Mendell Morgan reports that as the average price of a new hardcover book for the public library has gradually risen to around $35, bookplates naming the honoree and donor will be provided for each gift of $35 or more and will be used for the purchase of an appropriate book for the permanent collection.

Memorials and gifts to honor individuals or celebrate achievements and events –  a milestone birthday, promotion, award or business success, for example – may be made directly to El Progreso Memorial Library, 301 W. Main St. El Progreso Memorial Library is a 501(c)3 organization and financial gifts in any amount are fully tax deductible.

September donations

In September, gifts were given in memory of Jimmi R. McClung by Kent E. Beecroft; Ernestine Carson by Randy and Becky Gerdes; Josephine Noble by Ann B. Vaughan, Tom L. and Nancy Potts, and Randy and Becky Gerdes; and Cresencia Mendeke by The Honorable State Representative of Texas Tracy O. King and Cheryl King.

Special gifts

A special gift of three new books was mailed directly to the library.

Hardback copies of “Fanatical About Frogs” by Owen Davey, “The Good Egg” by Jory John, and “The Bear, The Piano and the Fiddle” by David Litchfield will receive a special bookplate to note that they are in memory of William Huddleston on Sept. 24, what would have been his fourth birthday.

“These delightful books from his cousin Charlotte will be enjoyed by many children for many years to come,” Morgan said. “El Progreso Memorial Library wishes to express its appreciation for all of the generous and thoughtful gifts it receives in so many forms and from so many people including time, talent and  treasure.”

August donations

In August, gifts were given in honor of Josephine Noble by Marcella Spurgeon, and Jim and Mary Lou Williamson; Phyllis McNelly by Jim and Mary Lou Williamson; Jan Evans Smith and Albert Prentice Burton by Cuatro and Delia Light; Sarah Eleanore Bell by Mendell D. Morgan Jr., Cuatro and Delia Light, Jerry and Vickie Weisinger; Bart Wagner and Tommy Brannan by Jerry and Vickie Weisinger; Ismael Cale Diaz by his wife, Gina Diaz; Clar Virginia Langford by Marcella Spurgeon; Donald Hall Ewers by Mendell D. Morgan Jr.; Ernestine Carson by Gina Diaz, Loretta Warren, Frankie Dicke, and Barry and Nancy Balzen; and Dr. Charles Gauntt by Estelle and Tom DuBose.

Donald Ewers, a faculty member at the University of the Incarnate Word, was reading “A Beginners Guide to the End” nearing the time of his death, and Mendell Morgan Jr. purchased the book for the permanent collection at El Progreso Memorial Library in his memory.

Other memorial titles added were “Music by the Numbers,” “The Year of Living Biblically,” “Pablo and Pimineto,” “The Architectural Legacy of Alfred Giles,” “More Decorating with Flowers,” “Blood on the Moon and Star,” Barnes and Noble edition of “The Illiad and the Odyssey,” and “Sea Stories by Admiral William H. McRaven,” U.S. Navy Retired, who also wrote “Make Your Bed.”

Mendell Morgan

Mendell Morgan

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