Today we (Kristen and Heather) delivered a Little Book Locker to Lawrence, MA, in the YMCA. Our contact, Cathy, explained that the Y is closed for activities, but they are still stretching out their arms to help the community, and are currently operating a food bank outside the front door. Like in Chelsea, many residents of Lawrence have been hard hit with unemployment during the pandemic. It was the first time that in order to deliver the books, we walked past a dozen people standing outside on a cold sidewalk waiting in a food line. I don’t think I’ll forget it any time soon. When people are hungry, worried about having enough money, or whether they can find a job, they’re not going to buy or borrow books for their children. So those children will go without the extra reading resources that many children have right in their homes: the piles of books with fun illustrations; the focused adult to read to them. Hopefully after the pandemic we’ll be able to do story times with kids in these communities, and deliver even more books when we do.
- Kristen Wixted