Little Free Libraries

Our Champaign-Urbana Kiwanis club has a strong focus on developing the reading skills of children in our community. In addition to our other literacy programs, we installed our first Little Free Library (LFL) in 2020. To learn, Kids need Books!

We currently distribute books in eight locations around the Champaign-Urbana community.

Some of our sites are the traditional Little Free Library boxes mounted outside on posts. However, the majority use bookshelves inside community centers like laundromats, housing authority offices, and even a soccer facility. Early on, our Kiwanis committee discovered that the existing LFL locations in our area were not located in areas with the greatest need. Consequently, we wanted to take a different approach and thus ALL of our Kiwanis locations are in underserved areas or places with high traffic by parents and kids.

Through a partnership with United Way, they provide space for processing and storage of books prior to distribution. By focusing primarily on gently used books, we can distribute enormous numbers of books with a minimal expenditure. When we need more books, all we must do is ask.

Annually, we distribute over 2000 books with a budget of under $2000. Although we do include some books for adults, the majority of our books focus on children from pre-school through high school.

On Thursday, November 2nd, 2023, twenty former Westview teachers, friends, and Kiwanians gathered at Westview School in Champaign for the dedication of our club’s latest Little Free Library. The new LFL honors Jean A. Breeze, a beloved Westview kindergarten teacher and sister of Kiwanian Clark Breeze.

For Kiwanians: how to get involved

Time commitment:

• Work happens throughout the year
• Up to 18 hours annually, including distributing books ~5 times a year

Currently five members distribute books to these sites where each person is responsible for at least one site visit during a two-week period. With the current rotation, each person distributes books about five times annually. Adding more volunteers would allow this program to expand even more.

We receive, sort, label, and store books prior to distribution in the basement of the United Way of Champaign County, 5 Dunlap Ct, Savoy, IL 61874. Thankfully, almost all of the books that we distribute are Gently Used books that we receive at no cost from schools and community members. A Kiwanis LFL book label is placed inside the front cover of each book distributed. The cost of printing these custom book labels is our only significant expense.

We generally meet about four times annually for about 2 hours to receive and process books. It takes less than 2 hours per rotation to deliver books to the 8 sites. In total, Kiwanis volunteers involved in this project serve for no more than 18 hours annually.

Contact Dave Mies at [email protected] or 217-722-4487 if you want to help on this great project.