Fort Worth Medical School Faculty and Staff Donate Books to Diamond Hill Children
TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine’s faculty and staff provide new and gently-used books to The Little Free Library™ at the North Fort Worth elementary school.
FORT WORTH – On a recent spring day, as elementary students were released for recess, Alicia Craff-Eder carefully arranged books in a small, house-shaped box decorated in swirls of blue hues reminiscent of a Van Gogh painting on the Diamond Hill Elementary campus.
Diamond Hill is the center of the North Fort Worth neighborhood, which is surrounded by railroad tracks and highways that prevent access to outside resources for some families. This is why the little house is so important to the neighborhood. Nancy Garcia, librarian and media specialist of Diamond Hill Elementary says because of this difficulty the elementary school “ is basically the heart of this community here”.
With the COVID-19 pandemic decimating communities throughout the United States, the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine’s Educational Affairs Service Committee sought to help out local nonprofits as safely as possible. Craff-Eder, who is senior clinical skills coordinator at the medical school, reached out to Garcia.
Having the Fort Worth medical school donate books to our Little Free Library™ provides “community love for literacy and education and a hope for tomorrow for a lot of our kids,” said Marlyn Martinez, principal of Diamond Hill Elementary.
The Little Free Library™ is a non-profit organization created with the purpose of expanding book access to communities. The group’s motto is “Take a book, Share a book,” and so far, the group has more than 100,000 little free libraries™ in the nation.
A Little Free Library™ was donated to Diamond Hill Elementary just a couple of years and has brought a big change to the community. “It’s part of our community and it helps them (families) connect. Sometimes, you’ll see kids just grab a book and lay on our front lawn and just read their books and put it back.” Martinez said.
Recently, medical school faculty and staff donated new and gently-used books to the Diamond Hill Little Free Library™. We’re hoping “bring a lot of joy to the kids and the community here,” Craff-Eder said.
To learn more about the Little Free Library, visit littlefreelibrary.org™