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First District Niagara County Legislator Irene Myers (second from right) dropped by the Youngstown Free Library last month with a $1,500 check to assist the library's summer reading program. Shown with Myers, from left, Town Supervisor John `Duffy` Johnston, Youngstown Village Mayor Rob Reisman and Library Director Sonora Miller. (Photo by Terry Duffy)
First District Niagara County Legislator Irene Myers (second from right) dropped by the Youngstown Free Library last month with a $1,500 check to assist the library's summer reading program. Shown with Myers, from left, Town Supervisor John "Duffy" Johnston, Youngstown Village Mayor Rob Reisman and Library Director Sonora Miller. (Photo by Terry Duffy)

Legislator Irene Myers has 'gift-giving' summer

Fri, Aug 26th 2022 12:20 pm

County funding goes to assist OFN, area libraries, businesses

By Terry Duffy

Editor-in-Chief

It’s been a busy couple of months for Irene Myers.

The First District Niagara County legislator was among those elected officials on hand recently for the recognitions to Old Fort Niagara Executive Director Robert Emerson. Myers delivered $75,000 in funding from Niagara County to benefit the site’s Historic Structures Preservation Project. With a separate $75,000 grant from Parks & Trails New York, the north and south Redoubt structures are being renovated.

First District Niagara County Legislator Irene Myers visits with Ransomville Free Library Director Phila Ibaugh. She presented $1,500 in funding for the Ransomville summer reading program. (Submitted photo).

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In July and August, Myers visited with the directors of both the Youngstown Free and Ransomville Free libraries in the Town of Porter to provide $1,500 in county funding to benefit the summer reading programs offered to town residents of all ages.

“The summer reading season would not be possible without this year's creative program volunteers and generous community grant providers,” said Sonora Miller, director of the Youngstown Free Library. “This week, we'd like to send a special shout-out to Irene Myers and the Niagara County Legislature. Thanks to her advocacy, the library was awarded a Community Partnership Fund grant this summer. This has allowed us to operate another successful year of summer reading programming! Thank you, Irene Myers, for supporting our community's readers!”

“Our summer reading, in its present form, started in 2004. It’s just a couple of hours a week, but there are prizes for all ages and levels of reading,” said a Ransomville library clerk who also offered her thanks to Myers for the funding assistance.

The legislator returned a second time to the Youngstown and Ransomville libraries in past weeks, where she delivered autographed T-shirts donated by Machine Gun Kelly to the top two teenaged readers who participated in the library’s summer reading challenge.

Myers said, “Thank you to Steve Basil ‘BAZE’ keyboard/base player from the band Machine Gun Kelly for donating the autographed T-shirts.”

Other community projects Myers has been a part of over the past months included community partnership funding provided by Niagara County for the recent Town of Porter Summerfest.

She also worked with the Niagara County Façade Program for local businesses. Launched in March by the Niagara County Center for Economic Development, the initiative provides matching grants up to $50,000 for eligible businesses to rejuvenate their properties to help bring vibrancy to the central business districts in communities across the county.

One recent recipient is Boland's Beef and Brew in Ransomville.

“The Boland's participated in the county's façade program, which was money earmarked for those businesses who were devastated by the pandemic from the American Rescue Plan who qualified,” Myers said.

Myers said the county assistance program continues. She invited businesses to look into it. For more information or an application, visit the Niagara County Façade Program at https://www.niagaracountybusiness.com.

Myers joins with Miller at the Youngstown Library to award two Machine Gun Kelly T-shirts to the library’s top teenage readers. (Submitted photo)

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