Boosters make Roseland library branch a reality

When Herman Hernandez Sr. broadcast a request for donations to the quest to open a temporary library in the Roseland district of Santa Rosa, he hoped he might collect $2,500.

Thanks largely to the longtime Guerneville community leader and chairman of Los Cien, the Latino leadership group, the Indiegogo funding appeal for a library at the site of Sebastopol Road's old Furniture 2000 store has brought in more than $18,000.

With the matching dollars put up by Community Foundation Sonoma County and other benefactors, that $18,000 will become nearly $40,000. Funds came also from the Sonoma County Public Library and the library foundation, and as a result the first phase of a Roseland Village Library is set to open this fall.

Said an elated Herman Hernandez, whose son by the same name also responded grandly to the quest for funds, 'I can't tell you how generous this community is when it sees an initiative of value.'

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.