Community Corner
Girl Scouts Help Open Children’s Library in North Laurel
Members of Troop 1508 collected several thousand books for the project.
Girl Scout Troop 1508 has recently completed a year-long Silver Award Service Project which helped to provide the North Laurel/Savage Multiservice Center with a brand new children's library.
The North Laurel/Savage Multiservice Center, 9900 Washington Boulevard in Laurel, provides meeting space for local clubs and organizations. Often, parents who attend these meetings bring their children along and children would spend time in a lobby/waiting area.
Three members of Troop 1508, Caroline Utz, Claire McCaulley and Christina Barrett, came up with the idea to turn this waiting area into a full-scale children’s library and helped turn that idea into a reality.
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In October of 2011, the girls began by meeting with the center director Quinton Askew asking for permission to make renovations to the children’s waiting area.
When their idea was warmly accepted, the girls next met with media specialists to learn what books would be the most appropriate to gather. Once they had an idea of their needs, the young ladies then set up book drives at their school and with Books-A-Million in Columbia.
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Soon they received a couple thousand books, including several new books.
The girls went on to bring in a library catalog so that books are able to be checked out. They also were able to take duplicate copies of books they received and give them out to local children as a gift for them to keep.
McCaulley, 13, has been a Girl Scout for six years and is very proud of this project.
“It's important to do your best to reach out to others in your community,” McCaulley said, “It means a lot to those who are going through hard times when they see that people care about their needs.”
Utz, McCaulley, and Barrett continued to be very hands-on with the project as they next helped to design and build custom book shelves for the space. They chose paint colors, helped paint the walls and even added some educational toys and games for kids to play with.
“The renovation had an immediate impact,” Askew said. “It’s a more welcoming environment for people coming in. Parents are now able to sit and read with their kids. Also, the local daycare in the complex now comes over for storytelling and book reading time.”
A grand opening of the children’s library will take place Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m.
