photo by: Bremen Keasey

Members of KU's Pi Beta Phi community relations team presented a donation of $5,000 to the Lawrence Public Library Foundation Wednesday afternoon to help fund the library's summer reading program. In the photo (from left) Joan Golden, Brad Allen, Kathleen Morgan, Molly Zeleny, Kammie Green, Charlotte Strohl and Annie DeSimone.

The Lawrence Public Library Foundation received a $5,000 donation Wednesday afternoon from the University of Kansas chapter of the Pi Beta Phi sorority that will support the library’s summer reading program for children.

Kathleen Morgan, the director for the LPL Foundation, and Joan Golden, the foundation’s treasurer, were joined by library Executive Director Brad Allen to receive the donation from Pi Beta Phi’s community relations team.

Kammie Green, the chapter president for Pi Beta Phi, said the donation was part of the national sorority’s “Read, Lead, Achieve” philanthropy efforts, which aim to support childhood literacy.

The $5,000 donation will allow the library “to expand the reach” of its summer reading program by taking the library’s bookmobile, “Dottie,” out to local summer camps, Morgan said. The library will bring Dottie and its summer reading to camps held by the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Culture department, which have around 800 kids enrolled in total.

“We’re bringing the summer reading program to them,” Morgan said.

Morgan said the program’s budget is normally around $60,000 and it has normally been sponsored by the library’s foundation, McGrew Real Estate and the Douglas County Community Foundation. The additional $5,000 is a “big boost” for the program, she said.

Green said all the money came from an ice cream social fundraiser this spring at the sorority, which she said brought in donations from all over the community.

She said she was thrilled the sorority was able to raise so much money, and that the members were really excited when they announced the donation would go to the Lawrence Public Library — helping kids “right next door.”

“It’s cool to have the opportunity to give to a place where we can see the direct benefit,” Green said.