Little Free Libraries Have a Home in Ellington Schools
Ellington now has three Little Free Libraries at each of the elementary schools in town thanks to a combined effort from the Ellington community. An official ribbon cutting ceremony took place at Windermere School on Tuesday, October 17th with principal David Welch and Nicole Satagaj’s 5th grade class participating.
The idea of placing a library at Center, Crystal Lake and Windermere Schools originated with Judi Manfre who is a member of the Decide to Be Kind Community Committee. Judi has had a library at her home in Ellington for years and also was behind the installation of the library at Skinner Road School in Vernon where she worked.
Erin McGurk, Director of Educational Services stepped in and enlisted the help of faculty and students at Ellington High School. A big thank you goes out to Tech Ed teacher Doug Luginbuhl, and Art teacher Wendy Ciarci and their students for constructing and decorating the three beautiful libraries. The Decide to Be Kind Committee covered the cost of the supplies and registration to be on the Little Free Library world map. Director of maintenance and facilities, Rob Butler, was in charge of the installation. It was truly a community effort!
Little Free Libraries was founded in 2009 and has grown to over 60,000 libraries in over 80 countries! The idea behind this book exchange is, “Take a book, return a book.” The library is for everyone, although it is preferred the theme of the books in the Ellington school libraries be directed to youth. If you see something you would like to read, take it. When you are finished you may pass it along to a friend or return it to the library you found it in or any other Little Free Library. Donations of children and youth books are welcome.
Thanks to the support of Hall Memorial Library and the cooperation of the staff at the three schools, the community is enjoying the libraries.
For more information about the Little Free Library organization or to see locations of other libraries, visit their website at www.littlefreelibrary.org.
