Story updated Feb. 2
Laura Smith felt inspired during the beginning of the pandemic to help her community through a visibly hard time.
So for the past two years, she has visited the Little Free Libraries throughout Eudora at least once a week to replenish, rotate books and organize the locations.
Local organizations created two more little libraries in Abraham Still Park and Paschal Fish Park that were installed last month, bringing the city’s total to five. With the support of a LiveWell Foundation grant, 4-H families built and decorated new libraries as a service project.
“The main goal is to just get books in little ones’ hands,” Smith said. “Eudora is very connected. We partner with other things like Feeding Eudora. It has been really nice to build a sense of community. We have a lot to offer.”
Since 2018, Eudora community members have offered the Little Free Libraries program to provide books for children in the area.
Smith can tell the program is being used by local families when she checks to see what books remain or have been rearranged.
The concept is characterized by a “take one, leave one,” policy but Smith emphasizes that if a child needs a book, they should take one with no questions asked.
Other little libraries throughout Eudora are at the Giving Garden, the Rec Center and the middle school.
In addition to running the marketing to promote the libraries, Smith has a house full of books donated to her from Eudora and communities beyond to use in the program.
Smith said there are about 250-300 books across all five little libraries, with about 500 more books for the rotation at her home.
Smith feels it is important to not only give children what they need to learn but to also teach young people about different topics.
“I did a BIPOC theme. I just try to educate,” Smith said. “Especially in small communities, I think that needs to be highlighted.”
Smith found the libraries especially important during a time when people were having to make hard choices financially. Smith and her family have worked via Facebook and word of mouth in the community to collect donated books.
Mary Kirkendoll also played a role in the development of this project and felt it was instrumental to help children have the opportunity to read during summer breaks and other times when school is out of session.
After starting the Giving Garden, Kirkendoll saw an opportunity to launch a new little library there to allow children to pick out books while their families visited.
“This is an important piece to keep the community together and keep the community involved in a really positive way,” Kirkendoll said.
When Eudora resident Kristin Magette heard about the possibility of building a library in the Giving Garden, she saw it as an opportunity for her son, Matthew, to make a lasting impact on the city through his community service hours for his church confirmation.
She felt it was a creative project the whole family could get involved in during COVID-19.
“It creates something special in the community,” Magette said. “It’s an easy way to get books in the hands of people who want them.”
Since the Giving Garden library was installed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2021, “there was an effort to collect books that represented diverse topics and diverse authors,” Magette said.
The first little library was founded in Eudora by Sparkle Oehlert in October 2018. After scrolling through Pinterest, Oehlert learned about the Little Free Library nonprofit organization.
Her husband built the library and received permission to place it outside of Eudora Middle School.
“We are so fortunate that my kids have so many books to choose from in the house, but we know there are so many kids that don’t have books to choose from,” Oehlert said.
To donate books to the libraries, people can message Laura Smith on Facebook or message Eudora’s Little Free Libraries page.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
