Students in a third-grade class at Chautauqua recently provided a different kind of nourishment for patrons of the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank: a Little Free Library stocked with books.
Last Thursday, several students in Jenni Wilke’s class helped deliver the cabinet they repurposed for the cause and then filled its shelves with books they collected so that adults and children who use the food bank will have easy access to something good to read.
Gathered with many of her students and food bank staff for the installation, Wilke stressed that reading is important in the class — while many students nodded enthusiastically in agreement — and they wanted to share their enthusiasm, particularly with people who might not have access to books otherwise.
Food bank Executive Director Robbie Rohr later expressed her appreciation for the library.
“I was so pleased their teacher Jenni had thought of it. It symbolizes how the community thinks about the food bank and how they might support it,” she said.
Wilke said her young students have learned about those who have limited opportunities for education and reading and have watched documentaries about small libraries, ranging from Portland’s Streetbooks, which serves the city’s homeless population via books transported on a bicycle, to Little Free Libraries, tiny libraries set up by people all over the world in recent years for anyone to borrow or leave a book.
Wilke — who many islanders know from when she and her husband Dave owned the former Books by the Way — spoke to the importance of books, noting that research shows that having books at home is critical to children’s future academic success, and she said members of her class understand the full value of books.
“They really know what we are doing and why we are doing it,” she added.
The food bank book project started when her class won the school’s SOLE (self, others, learning and environment) Award, which goes to a Chautauqua class that rises above and beyond expectations socially in the school. The award comes with a large pair of Converse tennis shoes, called SOLE Shoes, and the class then chooses a project to demonstrate soul in the community.
After receiving the award, the class set about creating their Little Free Library and selecting where in the community they wanted it to go, deciding on the food bank.
Last week, after the students filled the new library with the books, some of them talked about their favorite parts of the project, from creating signs for the little library to spending time as a class talking about the project.
Student Elouise Lawrence said she particularly enjoyed looking at the books that were donated and seeing which ones she knows. Her friend Stephanie Blower finished the thought.
“And seeing the ones other people would like,” she added.
The Little Free Library was not quite full when the class left last week and has room for books others may choose to leave behind. Wilke also said her class will continue to donate books and that more books are welcome either at the library itself or to her. For more information, email Wilke at jwilke@vashonsd.org.
