Pentwater men recognized for creation of mini libraries.

Pentwater men recognized for creation of mini libraries.

PENTWATER — Two Pentwater men were recognized recently for building five mini libraries that will become part of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which encourages reading by younger children, ages birth to 5-years-old.  Ron Christians and Jim Howell were honored during a Pentwater Service Club (PSC) meeting where they were given recognition awards from Barbara Sims, president of the United Way of Oceana County.

Sims first brought the idea to the PSC in the fall of 2018 when she addressed the club and lamented the fact that she could get more children reading earlier if she could find volunteers to help construct mini libraries where parents could easily obtain books to read to their young children.  A few days later Howell and Christians responded that they would volunteer to build the libraries, each of which is unique and took more than 12 hours to build at the Pentwater Artisan Learning Center.

The five libraries will be located in high traffic areas of Pentwater, Walkerville, Hart, Rothbury and Shelby.  

“It’s very rewarding when organizations like the PSC serve as the inspiration for projects that benefit multiple communities,” said Sims, who with her husband, Tom, owns Storybook Village, a children’s bookstore in downtown Pentwater.  “It took only a few months for Ron and Jim to construct these beautiful and imaginative mini libraries that will serve children in our county for years to come.”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age five in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland. Parents can find the exact location of any mini library in the United States by simply utilizing GPS coordinates to locate the closest one.

The Pentwater Service Club is an organization of volunteers that strives through its many projects to improve the quality of life for the people of the greater Pentwater area.  Those interested in the PSC should visit the Club’s website at www.serviceclub.org or its Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/Pentwater-Service-Club-284536781720382.  Interested persons can also attend one of the club’s meetings, which are held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays at the Pentwater School Library, September through May of each year.