Rotary International has what is called its “Six Areas of Focus.”
One is “Basic education and literacy.” This speaks directly to reading and our club’s interest in reading and literacy.
The Rotary Club of Farragut – on Saturday Nov. 7 – installed its first “Little Library” at the town of Farragut’s McFee Park. The concept is simple: leave a book for someone to read and take a book to read. There are other Little Libraries in Farragut and scattered around Knoxville and Knox County.
Rotary’s emphasis on literacy came to mind on that Saturday as our team worked to install this little blue library atop a post. And before the work was even finished, we had our first patron – Olivia Smoak, the daughter of Farragut Town Administrator David Smoak.
A team headed by Service Project Co-Chair Brian Elton met at noon and after an hour the Little Library was up and open for business near the park’s restrooms. Brian was helped by Rotarians Bill Rice, club president Ed Jones, past president Jim O’Brien, Smoak and president-elect David Bluford.
“It was very rewarding to get this Little Library up,” Brian said. “We have one more Little Library to put up and we’ve got to decide where.”
In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one- room schoolhouse. It was a tribute to his mother; she was a teacher who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away.
Little Free Libraries have continued to grow by leaps and bounds every year. In 2020 there are more than100,000 registered Libraries in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The plaque above the library door reads: “Take a book, Share a Book.”
To explore membership in the Rotary Club of Farragut, email tking535@gmail.com or call 865-659-3562. Tom King has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor of two newspapers.