6/14/2007

Helen Staeck Towne spent many long and enjoyable hours at the Earl Park Public Library as the young daughter of August and Elsie Staeck. Her love of education and reading led her to study at Indiana University in Bloomington after her graduation from Earl Park High School in 1928. Upon receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree, Helen became a librarian in the South Bend Public Library System.

After her marriage to Ronald Towne, Helen spent most of her adult life in New York City and Washington D.C. as a homemaker before returning to the Midwest after her husband’s death. At the time of her death in 1991, Helen resided in Downers Grove, Illinois near her sister, Alice Pugacz.

To honor her sister and her love of books, Alice, a 1936 graduate of Earl Park High School, recently established the Helen Staeck Towne Memorial Fund at Benton Community Foundation. The gift will be used to create an endowment fund for the Earl Park Public Library. Each year earnings from the Fund will be disbursed to the Library to fund special programming and/or the acquisition of new materials.

Librarian Sharon Gorman was thrilled to hear of the gift, “The Board of Trustees and I want to thank Mrs. Pugacz for her generosity. As is true for many libraries, we struggle to keep pace with the ever changing world of information access. This money is a blessing and we will strive to use it in the spirit in which it was given -- to honor Mrs. Pugacz's sister Helen by enhancing the educational endeavors of children and young adults.”

Benton Community Foundation’s primary purpose is to build endowments that will support the nonprofit organizations of this County forever. Mrs. Pugacz’s gift is a wonderful example of how donors can utilize the Community Foundation to achieve their philanthropic wishes long after they are gone. For more information about this gift or how you can create a legacy of your own, please contact Benton Community Foundation Executive Director Ashley Bice at 765.884.8022.

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