ZELIENOPLE — The Zelienople Library is getting more help to cover its ailing financial budget.

Last week a borough resident donated $7,000 to the library. Now a dentist plans to help as well.

Mark Marion, owner of Marion Smile Center in the borough, will partner with the library for the Smiles for Life program from March 1 to June 30.

Marion said he and his office staff have been considering a community cause and organization to help.

He said they decided on the library after reading an article in The Butler Eagle detailing the library’s financial struggles.

“That’s what spurred me to call Gregg Semel and see if there was something we could work out,” Marion said.

The dentist’s office will do teeth whitenings for the charity. Those fees will go to Smiles for Life where 50 percent goes to humanitarian issues across the world and 50 percent goes to the office’s charity of choice, now the library.

Marion said he does between two and 10 whitenings a month.

“If you look at a four-month period, we can do maybe about $2,000 (for the library). Hopefully that’s a low-ball number,” he said.

Semel, a member of the library board, said he is thankful for the donation and the new knowledge people have about funding the library.

“It’s an outstanding feeling to have such an outpouring in the community and in such an expeditious fashion,” he said.

Marion, who has had his practice for more than 30 years, has done other charity work in the past.

He said, “We wanted to do something local. We wanted something that affects children.”

This is the first year Marion has done charity work for the Smiles for Life program.

Marion’s effort follows borough resident Randall Hart who gave $7,000 to the library to eliminate the library’s deficit for 2016.

Library director Jan Lawrence said previously that contributions from donors have decreased in recent years. Lagging state funding and the budget impasse have also contributed to the financial woes.

That lack of funding resulted in Lawrence bring laid off, library operating hours being shortened and part-time employees’ hours being cut.

The library board on Wednesday will discuss Lawrence’s reinstatement and returning operating hours and employees’ hours to normal.

Semel said he expects Lawrence will be reinstated March 21 with board approval.