Life during the pandemic has made many of us lose a sense of connection with our community. During previous years, you might have spent your weekends volunteering with local organizations and weekdays fundraising for various charities via bake sales. While that might seem far in the past, there are still many ways you can connect to those in your community.
The Caring Crew–Academy High’s community outreach club–has spent the third quarter planning their newest project: building a Little Free Library. Due to courteous community members and local businesses, they will be able to build the Little Free Library within the fourth quarter of the school year.
Right now, you might be asking “what is a Little Free Library?”
A Little Free Library (or LFL) is exactly what it sounds like; LFLs are small libraries filled with approximately twenty to thirty books that anyone is welcome to take. Some Little Free Libraries have a take-a-book, leave-a-book set up, while others require no exchange. They are often placed in parks and neighborhoods, as the main target audience is children and young teenagers. The Little Free Library non-profit was founded in 2009 to build community, inspire young readers, and provide free books in areas where there might be very little access. The strategic placement of LFLs helps to provide children in impoverished areas with access to books to call their own.
But why should we do this?
Many children face literacy struggles due to the lack of reading resources. Reading is Fundamental, a children’s literacy non-profit, states that 34% of students entering kindergarten lack the language skills that are needed to learn to read, and 63% of children in 4th grade are reading below their grade level. Little Free Libraries can help aid this literature crisis by providing 24/7 access to books. Many kids will no longer need to solely rely on school or local libraries to read, now having access to books to take home and call their own.
Little Free Libraries have always served an important role in children’s lives, but the need for them now is greater than ever. When the pandemic began, job loss and financial instability skyrocketed, threatening many communities’ access to literature. Little Free Libraries are helping to combat this accessibility crisis, providing free books to community members. At its peak, the pandemic has prevented us from seeing co-workers, friends, family, and loved ones, but LFLs have served as a place where connection can still be found. As the Library is placed outside, it allows for people to talk in a safe environment, diminishing the isolation that we’ve all been experiencing for over a year.
The Caring Crew is excited to unite Academy High with the greater Champaign-Urbana community through their Little Free Library project. Their LFL will be placed in Mattis Park with the help of the Champaign Park District. As more information is gathered about what our school’s community can do, it will be passed along via emails from the Caring Crew. If there are any direct inquiries about this project, please contact caringcrew@academyhigh.org.