The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
United Way, PolyOne build little libraries
United Way of Greater Lorain County has partnered with PolyOne to promote literacy.
United Way and PolyOne came together Aug. 8 to build Little Free Libraries at the United Way headquarters at 642 Broadway in Lorain, to be placed in areas of need throughout the county.
“Part of our mission at PolyOne is to give back to the community around us,” said Stacy Kilgore, senior health care business manager at the company. “We really value volunteer engagement.
“So, we sought out United Way to see where there was a need.”
Kilgore said the two groups decided on creating the Little Free Libraries to get books in people’s hands.
“Literacy is something we definitely feel is important to emphasize,” she said. “United Way then set up the date for us to come over.
“We have 14 volunteers working in stations to make around four libraries. We will be going from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., so we want to try and reach the goal within that time.
“This is a great opportunity for our employees.”
Ryan Aroney, marketing and development director at the United Way of Greater Lorain County, said the agency was looking at areas of need and come up with this project.
“We try to fill in gaps, and we thought of different areas where you don’t have these little libraries,” Aroney said. “We also have a lot of books that we are looking to distribute.
“We currently have more than we know what to do with, so we figured it would be great to build some of these Little Free Libraries and fill them with the books we have.”
Aroney said United Way was happy to work with PolyOne.
“They are a great partner of ours,” he said. “They are really passionate about giving back to the community.
“It also gives us a chance to use this space in the back of our building to work on these projects. When we moved into this area, the point was to designate the area for these types of projects and the goal is to do more constructing back here in the future.”
The libraries will go in front of OberlinKids, 23 Eric Nord Way, 2nd Floor Suite 9; Durling Middle School, 100 North Ridge Road in Lorain; Midview Middle School, 12865 Grafton Road in Grafton; and Elyria East Rec, 1101 Prospect St.
There are tentative plans to have little libraries in front of United Way and El Centro De Servicios, 2800 Pearl Ave. in Lorain.
“Part of our mission at PolyOne is to give back to the community around us. We really value volunteer engagement. So, we sought out United Way to see where there was a need.”
— Stacy Kilgore, senior health care business manager at PolyOne