ST. AGATHA – Writing grants continues to pay off for all of the readers in the St. John Valley.

Officials at the soon-to-be-open Long Lake Public Library recently received additional grant money to help them get the town’s first-ever public library running.

The library recently garnered a $5,000 grant from The Davis Family Foundation, a public charitable foundation established by Phyllis C. Davis and H. Halsey Davis of Falmouth. The foundation supports educational, medical and cultural and arts organizations located primarily in Maine.

The money will be used to finance the purchase of computer software for the library.

The facility also got news last week that it had secured a $3,300 grant from the Maine Community Foundation, Jackie Ayotte, president of the library’s board of directors, said Monday.

To date, the group has raised more than $98,000 to establish the library and is striving to achieve its overall goal of raising $250,000 as soon as possible.

The recent influx of grant money has catapulted the group closer to its goal of setting up the library in a space at the Montfort Heights complex at 384 Main St. The facility’s board of directors received the keys to the new library last month.

In addition to books, magazines and other materials, the library will be equipped with broadband Internet access. Volunteers have been working for several weeks to set up shelves and computer software and catalog books within the facility.

“It is looking like we will be able to open up in July,” Ayotte said in a telephone interview Monday. “Right now, we’re working on some technicalities, such as getting the computers set up and connected to the Internet.”

At this point, the only library in town is the student library at Wisdom High School.

Ayotte has been overseeing the operation since its start, and Maynard Martin, another board member, has been working with St. Agatha Town Manager Ryan Pelletier to write and submit grants to secure additional funding for the library.

They are meeting regularly to review applications and look for funding sources from government grants as well as private foundations.

More than 220 individuals, businesses, and organizations have made donations to help raise the necessary funds to get the library going.

Successful grant writing helped the group secure a $50,000 bequest from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation last October.

More than $36,000 also has been raised from individual and business donations, and the library also has secured numerous donations of books.

Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to the Long Lake Public Library, P.O. Box 33, St. Agatha 04772. For more information, visit the library’s Web site at www.stagatha.com/library.asp.