Children who can get their hands on books and take them home read more. In many of the rural counties Together for Hope serves, reaching a public library can mean a long drive, and school libraries close for the summer. A free lending library puts books within walking distance of the children who need them.
A free lending library is a small outdoor bookcase, built to withstand the weather and placed where families pass by: outside a church, a school, a store, or a home. Anyone can take a book. Children can bring it back when they finish, keep it, or leave another book in its place. Neighbors keep the shelves stocked.
Built from what a community already has
Together for Hope works from the conviction that every community already holds the gifts it needs, and a lending library is a simple example. It takes a person who can work with wood, a host willing to give it a home, and neighbors who will keep it full of books. Together for Hope provides construction plans and support materials at no cost, and the community provides the rest.
Together for Hope can place a lending library in any of the 338 persistent rural poverty counties across 30 states it serves. It supports the coalition’s Education priority, one of its four Priorities of Hope.
Start one in your community
- Download the Free Lending Library Construction Plans.
- Download the Free Lending Library Project.
- Find a host: a church, school, library, store, or front yard where children and families pass by.
- Gather books, build the library, and recruit neighbors to keep it stocked.
- Send a photo to your regional team so we can share your library with the coalition.
