Legacy Station

At our current location, services are limited due to sharing space with the food pantry. The space is being used for cross-purposes, thus not fulfilling the purpose of the senior center. On occasion, our coffee groups and the backpack volunteers compete for space. Ladies that participate in exercise class are having to go to another building as the current area is too small. This is a less than ideal situation, trying to coordinate times of use between the food pantry and senior center. Both entities would greatly benefit with having their own, intentional space.

The opportunity for a larger location, offers huge benefits. It would allow a safe and accessible building for seniors that is ADA compliant.

It will help to build a community with the elderly and will open up opportunities to better serve seniors’ needs. Such services are vital to the mental and physical health of older people in the area. Seniors can become more active and socially interact with the younger generations. They’ll feel safe and secure, come to socialize, participate in activities and receive fresh, hot meals.

Although the library would like to expand programming, our space is inadequate. Currently the seating for any meeting or event is limited to eight people, which makes the activities a “first-come, first-served” arrangement.

The building was built in 1964 and it does not meet ADA guidelines. There is no handicap parking, the outside doors are too narrow for a wheelchair, and the bathroom is not compliant. A new library would have all these things, making it more accessible to all.

Expanding our book collection to add quality, award winning books to the children’s and teen’s department has been challenging.

Our current teen area is confined to a small area in the adult section, which is not ideal and there is no more room for their books. 

The children’s area has the same problem; the shelves are full, with no room for new books. It is vital that a library keep the book collection up to date and be able to offer new books to all ages, but with a confined space, our options are limited.

A new library will allow us to have a dedicated teen space, a large children’s area, an expanded Maker Space, and a sizable meeting/event room.  The community history/genealogy room will help preserve the history of Wood River for future generations.   All these things combined will help us grow into a hub for community activities and information.