T-D donates newspaper boxes to Girl Scouts, Cambria County Library for projects

May 31—Old newspaper boxes are finding a new purpose to benefit the community.

Girl Scouts from Daisy and Brownie Troops 52939 and 36581 and Junior Troop 28832, all from Penns Manor Area School District, received three newspaper vending boxes from The Tribune-Democrat to help them earn their Take Action badges.

"To earn this badge, each troop had to come up with a sustainable project that solves a problem in their local community," said Candice Brink, the Daisy and Brownie troop leader. "This project teaches the girls to think about issues right in their backyard and how they can engage other community members to create a lasting change in their world."

She said at the beginning of the project, the girls read the book "Little Libraries, Big Heroes" and it got them thinking about how they could get books closer to the communities they live in.

"It gave us the idea that this was something we could do," Brink said. "The girls decided they would create Little Free Libraries, a public bookcase that promotes neighborhood book exchanges. We saw that the old newspaper vending machines would work well because a lot of the work was already done and the kids could do what was left as a project for them."

She said she reached out to Robert Forcey, publisher of The Tribune-Democrat, inquiring about getting the boxes and he was receptive to the idea.

"When I called and told him, he asked me how many I wanted," Brink said.

The month-long project began in April. It involved setting up a budget, shopping for supplies and working with area businesses to bring the plan to fruition.

"The boxes needed to be sandblasted, and we were able to find a business in our area who volunteered to do it," Brink said. "We got together to paint them, and the girls learned about that process."

The girls collected books donated from friends, families and neighbors so the libraries could be stocked for all ages of readers.

"We have such a large supply of books and we can restock them later on," Brink said.

Boxes were delivered to the Alverda post office, Cherryhill Volunteer Fire Co. in Penn Run and County Line Bent and Dent in Strongstown.

Brink said the hope is the girls will see that even though they are young they can make an impact in their community in a big way.

"For Troop 36581, we had a ribbon-cutting ceremony when the box was delivered and the girls were so excited, and in that moment the look on their faces said they were so proud of something they had done for the community," she said. "That is what Girl Scouts is about — letting these girls take control and be in charge of a project to benefit more than just themselves."

Additional troop leaders who assisted the girls with the project include Steph Putt, Kelly Keith and Becky Mellott.

In addition, Cambria County Library received 14 boxes from The Tribune-Democrat for an upcoming project.

"We'd like to repurpose them into something similar to a Little Free Library but they're going to be library book boxes," said Ashley Flynn, library director. "We have 14 system members in the Cambria County Library system, and each of our system members will get one of these boxes to put someplace in their community that's not at the library."

The boxes are at Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center being refurbished.

"We're hoping to have them have a uniform look with some branding for the Cambria County Library system," Flynn said. "We also want each individual box to have some branding that represents that particular system member. We want people to recognize it as a county-wide project, but also want them to know that this is their local library's box."

The plan is to have the boxes in place by fall.

Flynn said the books in the boxes will include selections for children through adults that will be free for people to take.

"This is not a place to return library books or check out library books. These are free materials, and we're hoping people will take them or might want to leave or return a good one for others to have access to it," Flynn said.

Flynn said boxes will be checked monthly to ensure they're fully stocked.

"We're trying to create another access point for materials in the community," she said. "We want everyone to have access to these excellent materials."

The boxes also will include information on library services and programming.

Forcey said both organizations have seen the need for children and adults to have access to books in their communities.

"In response to this need, we have begun donating newspaper stands to these organizations to allow them to get the books into the neighborhoods that need them," he said.

"We know we are not the first organization to do this, as exhibited by the many boxes we see downtown or coats in the park, but we hope we can help these organizations reach out to families and kids who could enjoy books like this. We can't fix all the problems, but this is just one more thing that will make some folks' lives a little bit easier."