Illinois Library Hit By Tornado Seeks Funding

A southern Illinois community that is still recovering from a deadly November tornado is asking for help paying the monthly operating expenses of its cash-strapped library.

Brookport’s privately funded library received about $5,000 in damage during the Nov. 17 twister that killed three people near the roughly 1,000-resident Ohio River town.

But the building itself wasn’t destroyed.

“We are just so thankful to have been spared,” said Library Board President Judy Askew.

Askew tells WSIL-TV that the group that oversees the facility hopes members of the community will pitch in to help pay the site’s $600 monthly operating costs.

“It’s up to us to find people and companies that are willing to keep the doors open and the lights on,” Askew said.

She’s looking for 60 people who are each willing to contribute $10 every month.

The library opened in 1991 and is run entirely by volunteers and charges people $1 a year for a library card.

Askew said the library’s doors could close as early as August without the extra help.

The November tornado that hit Brookport stayed on the ground for about 11 miles and was one of about two dozen twisters that rolled across Illinois that day.

Donations may be sent to the Brookport Library. The library’s address is:

P.O. Box 308, Brookport, IL 62910.