Monroeville Public Library has a brighter interior and will pay less for power, thanks to the installation of LED bulbs to replace decades-old fluorescent fixtures.

Helping to pay for the project is a $5,000 matching grant from the Lions of Pennsylvania Foundation.

“We are thrilled with the donation from the Lions. That puts us over the top,” Diane Lindsey, Friends of Monroeville Public Library president, said. “We will be in great shape to save money and electricity.”

Some of the new lighting was in place when Kamal Gella, Lions District 14B governor, visited the library on March 6 to present the check from the foundation.

“The environment is one of the global causes for Lions International, and we are supporting the environment by supporting this project,” he said.

By helping the library save money, the service organization also is supporting the efforts of a vital pubic institution.

“If you cannot take control of energy costs, then you have to cut programs,” Gella said, “and that will impact the community.”

As of October, the reduction in costs was estimated at $3,000 to $4,000 a year, according to assistant library director Alan Rader.

Barb Martinelli, a Monroeville Lions Club member who also serves on the Friends of the Library board, made the connection that resulted in the awarding of the grant.

“I went to the Lions and asked for a donation, hoping we’d get maybe a hundred dollars,” she said. “Lo and behold, Dr. Gella was at the meeting when I was there asking for the donation, and he said, ‘I think we can do better than that.’”

Along with the Lions grant, a “buy a bulb” fundraising campaign proved to be successful, with more than 200 people donating $25 each.

“The grassroots support was tremendous,” Lindsey said. “If there’s a little bit left over, we’d like to start on the outdoor lighting.”

Support for the library goes right along with the local Lions’ mission, according to club member Christopher Raynak, who served as district governor for 2020-21.

“We are collaborating with whoever we can from the Monroeville area to serve our community,” he said.

Among the club’s community-oriented endeavors is organizing the annual Monroeville Lions Farmers Market, which will have a new venue for 2023.

“The Monroeville Mall has agreed to have us use a designated area of their parking lot. It as at the end of the mall between Dick’s and Best Buy,” members of the farmers market committee wrote in a letter to local residents. “We will continue to be open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon through Nov. 18, the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The market had been held at Monroeville Community Park West, but issues involving traffic congestion and insufficient parking prompted the move.

“The Monroeville Lions Foundation would like to thank the Monroeville leaders and the mall leaders for making our new location possible,” the letter states. “We are looking forward to this new chapter. We have been here for over 30 years and plan to continue this service to the community.”

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