KEARNEY — Kearney welcomed two new Little Libraries thanks to the work of one Girl Scout Ambassador, on Saturday.
At the grand opening, an assortment of children’s books could be seen inside one of the little libraries located at 14 La Platte in Kearney.
The sides of the structure could be seen adorned with hand painted pictures, with one side depicting an open book with a cloud of pictures spilling from the pages.
The whole project was headed by Girl Scout Ambassador Makayla Maxson, who is now in her freshman year in college at University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL). The project had been built as part of her Gold Award Project that she has been working since March.
Makayla shared that she chose to do create the Little Libraries to not only promote literacy, but also so everyone has an opportunity to crack open a good book.
Over the course of a few months, Makayla put in about 82 hours into her project including fundraising, collecting books, building the little libraries themselves and more. But after all the paper work is finished, it’s expected to be around 90-100 hours.
According to Kathy Maxson, Trooper Leader and mother of Makayla, they received about 15 paper boxes in total of children’s books. All books had been, donated by community members who had heard about the project.
The other aspect of a Makayla’s Gold Award Project was that it also had to be sustainable.
With that in mind, United Way of the Kearney Area fit the bill as a partner in the project. Makayla reached out to UWKA back in March. UWKA then agreed to become the future stewards of the Little Libraries, working with other Girl Scout Troopers and ensure that books are always available.
In addition to creating the Little Libraries, Makayla also held a Patch Day earlier that same day.
Several scouts got to participate in fun activities and learn about the importance of literacy. The patch day also allowed scouts to earn one of two patches created by Makayla. In turn, the patch and its program will then be made available for any scout around the state to earn.
Makayla shared that what she wants people to know about the Little Libraries is to just come enjoy them, to take a book, and share a book.
Book donations toward the Little Libraries can be taken to the United Way Office in Kearney at 4009 6th Ave Suite 19. The second free little library is at 103 E. 17th
