Rotary opens four Little Free Libraries The Rotary club hopes to promote literacy in both adults and children by installing these Free Libraries at major parks in Lima Allen County for public use.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Faurot Park in honour of the newly placed Little Free Library.

The Lima Rotary Club (Ohio, US — D 6600) in partnership with the Lima Parks and Recreation Department and Lima Senior High School have placed four Little Free Libraries in the Lima area.

These Little Free Libraries are in Faurot Park, Lincoln Park, Dr Martin Luther King Jr Centre Park and Robb Park.

Six other Little Free Libraries will be placed throughout the community, with one being placed at the Salvation Army shortly.

Swartz Contracting has offered to install the remaining six libraries.

“Paul Swartz is a Rotarian and he has offered to provide the labour and staff to install those five. So as we find homes for those, Swartz Contracting will be installing them for us,” said David Frost, past president of the Lima Rotary Club.

As the name describes, these Little Free Libraries hold both adult and children’s books.

These books can be taken out and then brought back when the reader is finished.

It was Frost who initiated this project for the Rotary Club.

“This is a great project. This was actually started back in 2009 by a Rotarian. I first got wind of this a couple of years ago and brought it up to our board about a year and a half ago. Everybody was on-board with it,” Frost said.

Jill Ackerman, Lima City Schools superintendent and Rotarian embraced the idea.

The Lima Senior Carpentry Class built 10 libraries as a winter project.

The Lima Senior art department painted different children’s book themes and characters on the exterior.

The Rotary Club hopes to promote literacy in both adults and children.

“It’s really something we’re excited about, not only to promote literacy but to provide the accessibility of books to the Lima Allen County public.”

“Surprisingly 61 per cent of low-income families don’t have access to books. So this is one way that Rotarians felt we could give back,” Frost said.

Frost is pleased with the success of the Little Free Libraries so far.

“I filled up Martin Luther King Jr Park’s a week ago and it is now empty. Lincoln is almost empty, with about half the books gone,” Frost said.

Frost encourages people who may have books to donate them to any of the Little Free Libraries.

Simply take the books and place them inside the door of the library.

Source: limaohio.com