Ferguson Municipal Public Library has received large support from throughout the country.
The Ferguson Municipal Public Library remained open when businesses and schools were closed. When the grand jury chose not to indict officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown the city erupted in violence. The library, however, was open the following day and received support from groups throughout the nation.
Scott Bonner, the library director, decided to keep the doors of the library open to provide encouragement to the community.
“Our volunteers are excited and optimistic, and here to help, and then I have patrons who come in and literally hold my hands and cry — they just needed someone to hold onto and talk to. And everything in between, including people who are doing the regular walk-in, walk-out stuff,” Bonner told Library Journal last month.
One of the forms of support was donation. Public voices began spreading news of the library and asked for donations, including the show Reading Rainbow. Within two weeks of the grand jury’s decision, Ferguson’s library received $350,000 dollars in donations, along with book donations. The donations meet roughly 87 percent of the library’s yearly budget.
Ashley Ford, writer for BuzzFeed, is credited with the tweet that initiated this large influx of donations. “If I sparked it, everyone else was the fire,” Ford told St. Louis Post.
The library has become an institution that the community is united by. Though anger, frustration, and disappointment are pervasive in the community, the library attempts to aid the community through unity.
“Seeing a story where a community comes together unified behind a common cause ... it makes people remember that, you know, we're all human beings and we're in this together,” Bonner told NBC News.
The library has only one full-time librarian at Ferguson Municipal Public Library, which is Mr. Bonner. He hopes to hire another full-time librarian with the donations. According to St. Louis Post, the library is offering children “healing kits” as a means of coping with the recent chaos. These kits include books regarding feelings and emotions as well as stuffed animals. Children can borrow the books for up to two weeks, but are able to keep the stuffed toys.
