There are more than 25,000 Little Free Libraries in all 50 states and in 75 other countries around the globe. What are Little Free Libraries, you ask? They are neighborhood book exchanges, where free books are housed in small containers and made available to members of the local community (much as the picture above demonstrates).
The Little Free Library concept was begun by Wisconsin's Todd Bol, who mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house on a post on his lawn as a tribute to his mother, a book lover and school teacher. And now, as the movement celebrates its third birthday, the Little Free Library project has organized a Kickstarter project to help raise funds "to double and deepen our impact and build 50,000 Little Free Libraries by 2017."
With the Kickstarter funds, the group's goals include the following:
- Install hundreds more Little Free Libraries that 'kick start" brighter futures for thousands of children through the power of literacy.
- Water book deserts - rural or urban areas where books are difficult to access or afford.
- Help teachers provide books to their students that they can take home to enjoy and build their reading skills during summer and year-round.
- Provide police departments with Libraries of Understanding that will help them engage with youths and encourage them to read.
- Positively impact at least 100 communities through the power of reading.
The Kickstarter campaign only has eight days left to go and as of this writing, has funded less than half of its relatively modest $50,000 goal. You can make a contribution as little as $3 to help, of if you happen to have a lot of cash on hand, a pledge of $5,000 or more will help sponsor 20 libraries and get your name/logo on plaques on 10 Little Free Libraries.
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