BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Raleigh County Family Support Center on Tuesday teamed with United Way of Southern West Virginia for the unveiling of a Little Free Library location which will provide literary materials to young readers throughout Raleigh County.
Granted as one of only 50 new locations across the country, the resource was unveiled on Tuesday at the Raleigh County Family Support Center’s Community Transformation Center location on Antonio Avenue. The unveiling saw attendance from several local leaders, including Beckley City Councilwoman Janine Bullock, representative for Ward 5 where the new literary resource will be located.
“It increases and encourages literacy with the neighborhood kids,” says Raleigh County Family Support Center Executive Director, Kellie Gunnoe of the initiative. “The neighborhood has limited access to the library – and the library is phenomenal, it has excellent resources. But this gives it a little bit more local fuel for the kids in the neighborhood, where transportation might be a barrier for their parents to get them to the library.”
The library operates based on the honor system, with no restrictions in place as to how long a book can be borrowed or which books can be donated, as Gunnoe explains, “The idea is that kids can come get a book or they can bring one back. It doesn’t have to be the same book; it can be any book, or they can decide to keep it if they just fall in love with reading it.”
United Way of Southern West Virginia determined the Raleigh County Family Support Center with its Community Transformation Center location to be an ideal collaborator for the community-based initiative, according to Executive Director for United Way of Southern West Virginia, Trena Decal.
“United Way of Southern West Virginia was the recipient of a grant through Scholastic and Little Free Library where we received a Little Free Library and hundreds of Dog Man and Cat Kid books to stock it. We identified the Raleigh County Family Support Center as a great location to put the Little Free Library,” says Decal. “We were here this morning getting it assembled and we’ve just revealed it to the community. [We] really encourage everybody to come out and borrow a book, share books and enjoy the resource!”
The addition, implemented in collaboration with Scholastic, comes as part of the “Power Up with Reading Initiative,” and saw several individuals braving the elements on Tuesday for the completion of its installation.
“United Way of Southern West Virginia received the Scholastic grant, and they decided to install [the Little Free Library] here at the Community Transformation Center,” says Gunnoe. “Beckley Housing Authority owns the [Transformation] Community Center and we partnered with them to install it as well. Our Board Chair, Danielle Stewart was here this morning in the pouring rain installing it with us.”
Fortunately, the weather broke prior to the unveiling on Tuesday, just in time for neighborhood readers to begin utilizing the valuable resource.
More information on services and programs offered through the Raleigh County Family Support Center can be found at the Raleigh County Family Support Center website, while additional information on United Way of Southern West Virginia can be found at unitedwayswv.org.
