Rotary Club Sponsors New Little Free Library in Hawthorn Woods
The Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer, and Hawthorn Woods recently had a new Little Free Library (LFL) installed at Hawthorn Woods Community Park. This is their second LFL project. Their first LFL was installed last Spring at the Foglia YMCA in Lake Zurich.
Little Free Library is based on the honor system encouraging anyone to take a book, leave a book. Not only does the Little Free Library encourage people to share their favorite stories, it also aims to build a sense of community and spark conversation. Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that has more than 10,000 Little Free Libraries in 50 countries.
Rotary Clubs have a long tradition of supporting literacy projects across the world and in our local communities. The project was initiated and organized by Rotary Club member, Jim Dopler. He and fellow Rotarian, Don Biciste, both of Kildeer, were involved with acquiring and preparing the Library for installation by the Village's Public Works Department. This is a great location which makes the Little Free Library available to the many area residents that use the park on a regular basis. The Hawthorn Woods Community Park should see a lot of foot traffic this summer as they continue their Concerts in the Park series. Their summer events also include Movies in the Park and Car Show Cruise Nights. Concerts, Movies and Car Shows are FREE to everyone and are held on Friday evenings at the Community Park. Food vendors are on-site for every concert. Visit them online at www.vhw.org/events for details.
The library was initially stocked with about 30 books that the Rotary Club filled from their own collections. Now that the Little Free Library is installed and available for the public to enjoy, the Rotary Club hopes their project will further encourage reading while also bringing their communities even closer together.
Stop by the Hawthorn Woods Community Park, located at the Northeast corner of Quentin and Old McHenry Road, Hawthorn Woods, to take a book or leave a book. Additional information about the LFL program is available at littlefreelibrary.org.
The Club's major fundraising event of the year, the Rotary Race for Charity 5K Run and 3K Walk (formerly know as the Long Grove Heritage Race) will be held September 10th. Registration will be opening by the end of the month at www.RotaryRace.org.
Some of the recent volunteer projects the Club is involved with include: hosting and serving the Community Dinner at Emmaus House, Lake Zurich; supporting Lake County Haven, Libertyville; sponsoring one mile of highway for the Adopt-A-Highway program on Route 83 in Long Grove; delivery of Thanksgiving Dinners to Veterans in Lake County; providing groceries for St. Mary's Food Bank, Buffalo Grove; contributions to Shelter Box, an international organization providing global disaster relief supplies; installation of Little Free Libraries in Lake Zurich and Hawthorn Woods, and co-sponsoring an annual dental mission to Central/South America to provide free dental care to those in need.
Additional information about the Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods is available at rclg.org. The Club meets weekly on Tuesday mornings at 7:15 AM, at Village Pizza and BBQ, in downtown Long Grove. Prospective members are always welcome to attend.