Committee accepts several small donations: senior‑center books, library cash and a memorial park bench

The Finance Committee on Sept. 15 reviewed several small donations and agreed to forward them to the full council for acceptance.

Staff said an anonymous donor gave books to Hungryhill Senior Center; the presenter described the donation as having a total value around $200–$321, and the chair separately referred to accepting “$300 worth of books.” The presenter said the donor wished to remain anonymous. “They want to be anonymous,” the presenter said.

Committee members also acknowledged two small cash donations to the Springfield City Library — one for $25 and another for $40 — that staff said will be deposited into the library account at the discretion of Library Director Molly Fogarty. A committee member mentioned the Springfield Library Foundation’s long‑running fundraising and an upcoming check presentation tied to the East Forest Park Library project.

Finally, the committee considered a parks department donation for a memorial bench at Forest Park donated by Susan Kimball Halpern. The presenter described this as a new bench donation and provided a dollar value in the discussion; the transcript contains inconsistent numeric formatting for that value (see clarifying details). Staff said the bench will be placed in Forest Park as a memorial when processed by the parks department.

All three donation items were included in the omnibus motion that the committee approved to forward items 1–9 to the full council. The committee recorded no substantive objections during the briefing.