On Feb. 9, the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library held its Love Your Library event at Water’s Edge Resort & Spa in Westbrook. The event was a fundraiser for the library and also an opportunity to honor former state senator Ted Kennedy Jr. and current State Representative Noreen Kokoruda (R-101) for their efforts to secure a $1 million state grant for the library renovation project.

“This is an exciting time for the library,” said Library Board of Trustees President Beth Coyne at the event. “Two years ago this week, Feb. 7, 2017, the Town of Madison voted ‘Yes’ for a newly renovated library that will be restored in all its glory and more over the next 18 months. Perhaps you have noticed the construction fence is up! Getting to this point would not have been possible without the initial grants that we received to kick off our $15 million campaign. As Madison residents, we have been and are so fortunate to have good people who choose to serve in our state and in our town. When we started to move forward with the library project State Representative Noreen Kokoruda and former state senator Ted Kennedy did what all politicians from opposing parties should do: They worked together to secure $1 million for the people in the town of Madison.”

“We are very fortunate to have had Ted and Noreen in office during the time we were aiming to improve the quality of life in Madison with a new and improved library. The E.C. Scranton Memorial Library will be one of many legacies that they can point to from their careers. The library board would like to recognize them both by honoring them in the new building with a brick.”

Both Kennedy and Kokoruda will have bricks built into the entrance of the renovated library honoring their work to secure funding for the project.