In this case with clean, white washing machines all in a row. The laundromat is initially quiet, and while we wait for all the dignitaries to arrive, a thin young teenager picks up a book from the stand and begins to read aloud in Spanish. Soon the Sheriff arrives, as do the Mayor, the Director of Schuyler Public Libraries, and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce.
The setting at first seems strange for an auspicious occasion, but as the event progresses it feels appropriate. Schuyler is a small Nebraska community sustained largely by manufacturing and health care. It has an Hispanic population of nearly 74%, according to 2023 data. And the people are proud of their community. Like the Corrals family who owns the Soak 3 Times Laundromat, which is a community bookstand where Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) is launching its Community Book Garden program.
NGR, an initiative of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, has partnered with Schuyler and other communities like it to provide books in areas where they are harder to find or to populations who benefit from access to free books. The ribbon cutting at Soak 3 Times launched the five community bookstands in Schuyler that, according to Greta Carlson, Program Manager of NGR, is the first Community Book Garden in Nebraska.
Each stand will provide free NGR books to children and will be replenished with new books on a monthly basis. Books will be available in English and Spanish, with signs showing families how to access the digital library where narrations are available in even more languages. Schuyler stands include the laundromat, the public library, The African Store, the CHI Health Center, and the WIC Office at the East Central Health Department. Mayor Art Lindberg said at the launch, “It’s great to see that we’re engaging in our children’s futures. There’s no better way to grow your community than to start with your children.”
Schuyler does indeed seem to be growing its partnership with NGR. Kim Parsons, who is on the library board of trustees, points out that they’ve been working with NGR at the local elementary school to get incoming kindergarteners registered to receive up to 100 free books in the mail. Kim also participated in a local NGR Writers Workshop designed to bring familiar stories to Schuyler children written by community authors. Nick McGuffee of Unite for Literacy, one of NGR’s partners, lauded Schuyler, “I’ve been to community-based projects all around the country, and I’ve never seen a community get behind a project, take ownership, and bring it to life like this. It’s really special to see.”
While Schuyler was the first Book Garden, two others have been launched in the Omaha area. CHI Health University Campus Clinic, which currently holds the state's contract for initial medical screening and evaluation for all new refugees resettling in the Omaha metro area, partnered with NGR to host a bookstand in their lobby so that families with young readers or older children learning English can pick up free books. Emily Janda, a representative of CHI, explains that families are transported to and from the clinic by their resettlement agencies, meaning they might have to wait in the lobby for hours before their appointment time, so the books are a good way for families to spend the time together. Almost immediately at the launch, a family with several children picked up books. The toddler, while not old enough to read, was fascinated by a book called Who Eats Carrots and carried it around until a Registered Nurse named Tanya took time to read the book to her. Janda says that since the launch “The books have been immensely popular, especially on Friday afternoons, when we welcome refugee families to the clinic for their initial screenings.”
The second Garden opened in South Omaha at the One World WIC Clinic, where NGR partnered with the nonprofit Christ Child, which offers diaper bags, car seats, and scholarships to mothers. Books were displayed in the lobby on a wooden tree stand and quickly caught the attention of clients. A young brother and sister found books and sat quietly flipping through the pages while the mother used her phone to access the digital NGR library where Spanish translations of texts could be found that she could read aloud to her children.
These local collaborations have connected families and early childhood educators to books and reinforced strong community bonds. As Parsons put it about the Schuyler project, “when you get a good strong core team who have connections within the community, good things happen.” NGR will be working in the future to partner with more Nebraska communities to provide Community Book Gardens and continue its work toward promoting literacy.
