GREENFIELD, N.Y. – Greenfield Town Supervisor and other officials were joined today by local Girl Scout Troop 3613 and its leaders to officially unveil its new “little library” book sharing box outside of Greenfield Town Hall at 7 Wilton Rd. The sharing box will sit immediately outside Town Hall and will be officially installed as soon as weather allows.
The troop of 15 girls began the project three years ago when they were students at Greenfield Elementary School. They are all now Girl Scout Cadettes and are approximately 13 years old. The girls worked to raise the near $1,000 to produce the small outdoor library stand with fundraising. Fundraising included Girl Scout cookie sales, a dine-to-donate event at The View Restaurant at Brookhaven, and a hosting a kids night out event. The girls partnered with Kurt Zeisler Designs, owned by the father of one of the scouts, to design and build the structure themselves. Their work included drafting designs, sanding, painting as well as using a table saw, nail guns, and screw drivers.
The girls each spent at minimum three hours on the physical construction of the structure that is made of oak. The 4 X 2 foot library has a peaked roof that resembles an open book and a plexiglass front door. The library will hold an estimated 40-50 books. The library will be registered with the national nonprofit, that features more than 200,000 locations across the country with the goal of making books more accessible to people of all ages. The library is available for any person to take a book or contribute a book at anytime, and is free of charge.
“We love to see even our youngest Greenfield residents contributing to building our TOG community,” said Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch. “These girls made a very honorable goal as young children and saw their community project through until its end. We are pleased to place this beautifully constructed book sharing box in front of Town Hall for all residents to enjoy.”
“It was important to us that our troop give something back to the town they all have grown up in,” said Troop Leader Jill Blackman. “We hope to inspire reading and inspire others that anyone can make a positive impact on their community.”
“It was impressive,” said Kurt Zeisler of the girls eagerly jumping in to learning to build. “Using these tools for the first time can be intimidating and they were eager to learn.”
The girls started the project to attempt to earn the national Girl Scout Silver Award, but the rules informed the project did not meet the small group size requirement and did not qualify. Girls Scout Troop 3613 is led by Greenfield residents Jill Blackman, Susie Dumelin and Jennifer Zeisler and the troop is excited to be giving back to the community regardless.
The Town of Greenfield is home to 8,200 residents in Greenfield, Porter Corners, Middle Grove, Lake Desolation and Maple Ave. It spans more than 41,000 acres of land bordering the Adirondacks and is the largest town in Saratoga County, by square mile.
