The Macksville City Library was awarded a $5,000 Children’s Health Grant through the South Central Community Foundation in the fall of 2025. This grant enables the library to promote overall health and better address patrons’ hunger for knowledge AND their physical hunger.

With grant funds, the library’s aim was to build up their collection of non-fiction health related books in the children’s and young adult departments. This comes at a time when up to date knowledge is more important than ever on topics such as: diabetes, autism, cyber bullying, anxiety, healthy eating, etc. Teachers and students from Macksville schools helped recommend many titles, and books will be available for school use, as well as checked out at the library.

The grant also helped fund a new shelf for these titles. Since our new library addition, we are steadily making progress to furnish our new space to best suit patron needs. Other non-book items purchased with grant funds are two balance boards, to encourage balance, focus, and tech free fun, and three packs of Tales cards, to build positive relationships and connections.

The final aspect of this grant involved a new library program to combat hunger in a physical sense. Since May, we have been hosting Healthy Snack Saturdays. Children of all ages are welcome to stop by the library from 9 a.m. to noon for a healthy snack to take home. This new program has been a hit, with some kids grabbing their friends to come with them on a Saturday morning.

The South Central Community Foundation is a regional foundation that manages charitable funds for seven counties in South-Central Kansas. We are grateful for their commitment to health and education in Stafford County and beyond!

For more information about this and other library news, visit Macksvillelibrary.com