A brightly painted, outdoor wooden box brimming with books
was dedicated on Friday, Dec. 12, at Buffalo Creek Elementary School. The event
marked the first launch of United Way of Greater Houston’s Tiny Libraries
outreach effort.
The afternoon ribbon cutting at Buffalo Creek Elementary was
followed an hour later by the dedication of a new Tiny Library at the Brenda and
John Duncan YMCA, located at 10655 Clay Road in Spring Branch.
Up to 30 Tiny Libraries will pop up at other elementary
schools and United Way affiliate agencies and nonprofit groups across the
region in the weeks ahead. The libraries are designed to provide Houston-area
children with easy access to give-and-take, free reading materials such as
age-appropriate books.
At Buffalo Creek Elementary, 114 second-graders joined School
Principal David Rodriguez and early-career professionals in United Way’s LINC
(Lead, Impact, Network, Change) support group in the first ribbon cutting
event.
LINC volunteers built, decorated and provided free books to stock
planned Tiny Libraries. Members of the LINC group are all 30 years old or
younger.
The Tiny Library at Buffalo Creek Elementary, 2801 Blalock,
stands outside the school’s front door near the campus front drive and visitor
parking area. It draws attention with its brightly painted, blue box that
resembles the artist Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece, “Starry Night,” awash with
heavenly stars.
In Houston, United Way notes, more than 60 percent of
lower-income families do not have books at home for their children. Research
also shows that less than half of all third-graders have the reading skills
necessary to succeed in fourth grade or beyond. Putting more books in student
homes is a critical task.
Principal David Rodriguez thanked the United Way volunteers
for their good work and for creating a fun way for Buffalo Creek students to
have access to books. The school and United Way are partners in a separate
program called Reading Together in which United Way mentors meet and read weekly with 30 second-graders.
“We have partnered to bring United Way Reading Together to
our campus, and we have seen some great successes come from our students
reading one-on-one with their reading buddies. Tiny Libraries are another way
we are making sure our kids know the importance of reading and have the tools
and resources they need to become strong readers and successful students,”
Principal Rodriguez said.
Nicole Ketchum, a United Way LINC volunteer, spoke to
students during Friday afternoon’s outdoor ribbon cutting along with the
principal.
“Tiny Libraries look a little bit like big birdhouses, but
they are homes to books, not birds. They are small libraries where kids – like
you all! – can come and find a book to take home and read,” she said. “And when
you’re finished, just bring the book back to the Tiny Library here at Buffalo
Creek Elementary so that other kids can read it, too.”
The Tiny Libraries work on a “take one, leave one” concept so
students are urged to take a new book and return the ones they have read. Each
library holds up to 50 books. Elementary schools and United Way agencies will
have ownership of Tiny Libraries, including the placement and stocking of free
books.
United Way of Greater Houston believes that Tiny Libraries
can make a difference in putting more books in the hands of young children
most at risk.
“We know that children who don’t have access to books – at
home or in the community – have difficulty developing basic reading skills,
such as letter and word recognition and comprehension, which are critical to
academic success,” The United Way stated in a press release. “In addition,
research shows that children who can’t read proficiently by the fourth-grade
lag behind their peers and often don’t catch up.”
