TWIGGS COUNTY, Ga. — If you're driving along Highway 80 in Twiggs County, you might pass by one of the six Little Free Libraries available to the public -- an initiative Twiggs County Schools started about two years ago.
"Basically the gist of it is to supply the community with books that you don't have to use a library card for, there are no late fees for," Family Engagement Coordinator Makarios Sampson said.
She oversees the Little Free Libraries. With public libraries closed due to COVID-19, she says it's a good way to keep students reading.
"School libraries are not open right now, and the local libraries are not open right now, so this is just a really easy way for us to make sure that our kids have those resources available to them," Sampson said.
Now she's calling on the parents to donate books or build one as a family activity. April Plunkett and her family joined in.
"I was like, 'Wouldn't it be great for us to have one in Dry Branch?' And I was like, 'How am I going to do that, and how am I going to get that?' So I told my fiance, and I was like, 'Let's build one,'" Plunkett said.
"Since we have a good amount of books, we built it, they helped me, my young boy helped me paint it and my little baby too, and we built it together and put it in front of the house hoping that people would stop and get some books," Plunkett's fiance Adrian Garcia said.
Their daughter Oktober says it took about a day to put it all together, but now it's open and ready to use.
"We would like them to come, and we have some good stuff like chips and goody-bags, toys and some books," she said.
Sampson says they have six Little Free Libraries around the county. Four were built by parents and staff members near their homes and two are near local churches.
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