Batesville, IN — The Batesville Community Free Little Library has been added outside of the Batesville Area Resource Center (BARC) near the food pantry, thanks to the efforts of Batesville High School special education teacher Traci Rowlett and her students.
The teacher explains why they decided to do this project: “Our classroom completes monthly community service projects. We have collected donations for the food pantry and thought a Little Free Library could be a neat addition for patrons visiting the pantry or resource center.”
The former newspaper box was donated. Students and staff sanded and spray painted the box yellow, then “we collected the books to be included in the library and registered it”
at littlefreelibrary.org, according to Rowlett. “We are planning to continue stocking the library with books for years to come!” and she invites area residents to make donations, too.
Rowlett adds, “We would love for community members to visit our library, as well as the library outside of Amack’s Well.”
Little Free Library is a nonprofit that builds community, inspires readers and expands book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led little libraries. The effort allows millions of books to be exchanged each year, profoundly increasing access to books for readers of all ages and backgrounds, according to the website. The organization has the motto “Take a book. Share a book.”
Pictured – Left to Right: Batesville High School teacher Traci Rowlett; students Noah Roberts and Sarah Suttman; instructional assistant Peggy Lecher; students Brandon Manning and Emily Addison; instructional assistant Cindy Long; student Drew Prickel; instructional assistant Curtis Miller and students Matthew Kuntz, Isaac Kramer, and Ellie Holt present the Little Free Library to Batesville Area Resource Center board member Debbie Blank. “We are very excited to bring it to BARC,” Rowlett says. Not pictured are instructional assistant Sarah Abshear and students Brynna Deamron, Eric Scoggins and Scott Scoggins.
