Rotaract Club of Fort Wayne Installs
First Little Free Library in City Park
Building Community, Fostering Fellowship, and Promoting Literacy
Fort Wayne, Indiana – Mayor Tom Henry was joined by The Rotaract Club of Fort Wayne today to commemorate the installation of Fort Wayne’s first Little Free Library in a city park. The ribbon cutting ceremony in Memorial Park was also attended by Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation staff, City Council Members, Rotary Club President Jeff Krull, Rotaract and Rotary members, and the staff, students, and neighbors of nearby Memorial Park Middle School.
Based on the concept of “Take a book, leave a book,” the free-standing Little Free Library structures provide a way to share books freely within neighborhoods, on trails, and at other gathering places throughout the community to enhance the quality of life for all citizens, foster fellowship, and promote literacy.
The Rotaract Club has adopted Memorial Park for the past three years as part of the City’s Adopt-A-Playground initiative and has recently made an additional 3-year commitment to helping maintain the 42 acre public space. “We felt that installing a Little Free Library in our adopted park was the perfect complement to the park’s existing playgrounds, splash pad, and pool,” said Rotaract Club President Allie Braun.
The installation of this Little Free Library is in partnership with the Rotary Club of Fort Wayne as part of their two-year celebration to commemorate their centennial, which will culminate with the installation of 100 Little Free Libraries citywide and the Rotary Centennial Clock Tower on the Allen County library green in the spring of 2015.
This installation will mark the 10th Little Free Library to be chartered thus far as part of the Rotary Club’s centennial celebration. The Rotaract Club plans to install a total of five Little Free Libraries as part of the Fort Wayne Rotary Club’s overall goal to install 100 libraries by 2015. In order to meet the goal of 100 Little Free Libraries by June 2015, the Rotary Club is seeking additional organizations or individuals to partner with to install and steward Little Free Libraries throughout the Fort Wayne area. Interested parties should contact Candace Schuler at (260) 418-6142 or Jeremy Redding at (260) 466-9606.
About The Rotaract Club
Rotaract is an affiliate program of Rotary International. The club is designed for young professionals between ages 18-30 who want to make their community a better place, expand friendships, build leadership skills, and ultimately make a difference in the world. The Rotaract Club of Fort Wayne is sponsored locally by the Downtown Fort Wayne Rotary Club. There are over 9000 Rotaract clubs in over 160 Countries, with an active membership of over 200,000 young professionals.
About The Rotary Club
Incorporated in 1915, the Rotary Club of Fort Wayne is an organization of more than 200 business and professional leaders, united with other Rotary Clubs worldwide to provide humanitarian service and build goodwill and peace in the world. The club meets every Monday (except holidays) at Parkview Field at 12:00 Noon. For membership information, contact Mike Kelly (260) 438-1690 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. href="mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or visit http://www.fortwaynerotary.org/ href="http://www.fortwaynerotary.org/">http://www.fortwaynerotary.org/>www.fortwaynerotary.org.
For more information about this event, contact Jeremy Redding at the number or e-mail address listed above.
