June 23, 2014 at 4:28 p.m.
Little Free Library now located in Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital
Little Free Library now located in Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital
By Kayla Thomason-
The human resources team chose the "Give a Book & Get a Book" library for their yearly project. The group has a tradition of taking part in a learning or education-based project on an annual basis.
"One of our Sisters [Ruth Linnebur] in the Ministry Health Care system became aware of the Little Free Library movement - if you will - and so last year there was an article and she talked about a vision of having these across the Ministry Health System as part of promoting literacy," explained Juan Banda, vice president of human resources operations for Ministry.
The human resources team split into four groups of 20 people. Each group created their own library to be placed at a different hospital.
The Pioneer Team, whose library is located at Ministry Saint Mary's, created a Northwoods-themed library.
One of the staff member's husbands bought the lumber and cut the wood. The entire group took part in staining, painting and decorating the library. The left side has a stone chimney and the right side has a tree.
"It was a lot of fun, it's a great team-building activity and then just knowing it serves a purpose for our service project is really gratifying," Banda said.
The library now has many different genres that target different age groups so both children and adults can enjoy the library. People are to leave one of their own books in the library and take one for themselves.
"You populate it with books and it's open access to anyone in the community where you put it," Banda said. "The whole concept is born out of encouraging people to read."
The other three libraries the human resources teams built will be placed in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, the Ministry Dental Center in Stevens Point and the Franciscan Courts in Oshkosh.
There are already a few Little Free Libraries in Rhinelander, including one at West Side Park.
Little Free Library originated in Wisconsin five years ago and is now a global phenomenon. There are approximately 15,000 Little Free Libraries all over the world.
For more information on the Little Free Library concept, visit http://littlefreelibrary.org.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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