The St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Starcatchers Society gala raised $60,000 for a teen center at the Florissant Valley Branch. KMOV’s Vickie Newton emceed the event, which featured a live auction conducted by Malcolm Ivey, entertainment by authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and an awards ceremony honoring Sachs Properties and Sidney Johnson Learning Award winner Leela Chapman.
The gala will become an annual event, with the 2011 event scheduled for Saturday, September 24, 2011.
At the gala, Sachs Properties revealed plans to fund a teen center at the Samuel C. Sachs Branch, to be named after former Chesterfield mayor Nancy Greenwood. Also, gala chair Becky Kueker announced a generous grant from the Energizer Charitable Trust to support a new teen programming fund. The fund will enable the Library to offer programs for teens on a variety of topics, including job search and interview skills, creative writing, video production, and counseling services.
SLCL currently has teen centers at five branches. For more information about the Foundation’s teen center initiative, call 314-994-3300 or visit www.slcl.org/foundation/.