The Evergreen Community Library is a dynamic civic resource that promotes free and open access to information, materials, and services for lifelong learning and provides the opportunity to discover ideas and connect our community. To this end, we will partner with LittleFreeLibrary.org to build and register six Little Free Library boxes. They will be installed in under-served, outlying areas of our district where it may be a challenge for community members to travel to our library facility. The Little Free Libraries will serve to connect the rural community to our small library, offer reading and learning opportunities even through the summer, and make books easily accessible to our youngest children.

Statistics reveal that many children reach kindergarten without reading readiness skills. Handling actual books is important for reading readiness skills, which include identifying the front, top, and bottom of a book. Getting printed books into the hands of these children is imperative. Little Free Libraries will fulfill that goal. We are excited to partner with Better World Books and LittleFreeLibrary.org to bring more books to our community. Our hope is that together, we will impact the lives of those people who live in the under-served areas of our community.

“Yahoo! We got the grant! Now we can build the 6 Little Free Libraries!” exclaimed Cindy Vance, Board Trustee of the Evergreen Community Library. “Thank you for helping us ‘Build a Better World’ in our extended rural community!”