Salina Public Library has received a transformative $250,000 pledge from the Robert & Aileen Button Fund to support Re-Imagining Our Library: Youth Services, made possible by the generosity of Damon Button, a retired oil industry executive. The fund is named for his parents who spent most of their lives in Salina. Button now resides in Midland, Texas, but continues to follow Salina initiatives closely and has contributed to multiple local educational entities including a gift to Salina Tech’s Industrial Maintenance and Automation building.

Button’s contribution to the library will fund the construction of a public meeting room on the library’s lower level. The Robert & Aileen Button Fund Meeting Room will provide vital space for community meetings and tutoring sessions, addressing the library’s current high demand for meeting space, which sees over 10,000 reservations annually. This is part of the broader $3.6 million Re-Imagining Our Library: Youth Services capital campaign, aimed at revitalizing the library’s lower level. It will create designated spaces such as a youth programming room, a teen area, a nursing room for mothers, and essential upgrades and improvements to the nearly 30-year-old space. 

Button hopes his gift inspires others to contribute to the library’s capital project. “I hope future generations will have a good place to read and learn.” he shares.

The Re-Imagining Our Library campaign has raised just over $1.5 million, about 40% of the projected goal. Other benefactor donors of this project include the Earl Bane Foundation, Middlekauff Foundation and McCune Foundation. 

Allyson Walker, head of fundraising and development at Salina Public Library, shared, “We are so grateful for the incredible support from our community, and advocates like Damon Button. Together, they’re building a lasting legacy for future generations in Salina, and it’s inspiring to see.”To learn more about the project, visit salinapubliclibrary.org/re-imagining-our-library or contact Allyson Walker at giving@salinapublic.org or 785-833-9211.