Owensboro Public Schools will unveil its first of six Little Free Libraries at Cravens Elementary School on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 1:30 p.m. The ceremony kicks off OPS’ Owensboro Reads Campaign for the 2015-16 school year.
Another Owensboro Reads partner, the Daviess County Public Library, is helping to supply books for the Little Free Libraries. The idea is students and community members will take a book to read and leave a book for someone else to read.
Earlier this year, six local financial institutions each adopted an OPS elementary school. The banks supply their school with volunteers and money to purchase a Little Free Library.
“I’m excited to see what the students think about the book kiosks. It’s so important to provide our students with 24/7 access to books,” said Cortney Inklebarger, Cravens Principal.
The banks participating in the Owensboro Reads Initiative are Old National Bank, Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union, First Security Bank, Independence Bank, US Bank and Republic Bank. Old National Bank adopted Cravens Elementary.
“We’ve enjoyed reading to Cravens students and lending a helping hand where teachers ask us to. We’re thankful that we get to see the next phase of this exciting partnership first hand,” said Wade Jenkins, Old National Bank President.
“The unveiling of Cravens’ Little Free Library is the first of many steps towards improving literacy in Owensboro. We’re honored to be a part of this exciting initiative,” said Leslie McCarty, DCPL Interim Director.
The book kiosks will continue to be installed at the other OPS elementary schools and Hager Preschool throughout the school year. The Messenger-Inquirer is also continuing to provide newspapers on a weekly basis to OMS North and South in addition to providing literacy programming at the middle school level.
