GLOUCESTER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — An anonymous donation campaign to help renovate the historic Sawyer Free Library in Gloucester is paying dividends.
The library, which was first chartered in 1872, is undergoing a $29 million renovation and expansion project at its main building at 2 Dale Ave. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
The new library will include a 100-seat auditorium, a 16-seat conference room, a dedicated space for teens, and a Library History Center.
In October, an anonymous family fund announced a campaign that would match donations to the library's renovation up to $100,000 until Dec. 31. According to library officials, the campaign has inspired others to pay it forward.
"Over $299,000 in a response, that's pretty nifty," said Barry Weiner, Chair of the Sawyer Library Foundation Steering Committee.
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One of the latest donors is 93-year-old Gloucester native and author Marion O'Connell Frost. Frost's $4,000 donation to the campaign is the last of her proceeds from her 2011 book, "My Gloucester: Views of a Provincial."
"I loved it there. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent in those stacks," O'Connell Frost told WBZ NewsRadio. "Find a bench and read, and be happy."
O'Connell Frost is grateful for the matching donation campaign, and believes it will give people the push to help out.
"This will inspire other people to do things, I know it will," said O'Connell Frost. "What have you got to offer, do it. Time’s a-wasting."
WBZ's Kendall Buhl reports.
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