Community Projects

Our mission is to promote and encourage literacy in our community. One way we do that is through various projects that span generations.

If you’re interested in learning more or supporting our growing list of community projects, we encourage you to send us an email or click on the donate button below. Every dollar collected will go toward creating a community that values a good book.

Rooted in reading: books for babies

June 2022

The Community Literacy Foundation made the first donation of its newest project, Rooted in Reading: Books for Babies, to the Mercy Hospital Labor and Delivery Department. Each bag contains a copy of “This Little Piggy" in an Indestructible format, and a nursery door hanger to remind new parents about the importance of reading to their babies. The Community Literacy Foundation is providing these to every baby born in the Washington hospital over the next year — about 800 books. The project is being funded through a donation from the Amy Flottmann Family, a United Way grant, and funds raised by the Foundation board.

“Rewarding” and “Cool”

MAY 2022

FOR GRANDFATHER AND GRANDSON, BUILDING LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES WAS A WAY TO GIVE BACK AND BOND.

Dan Busekrus of Warrenton knows the joy of reading a good book, and as a retired teacher, he knows the importance that reading plays in enhancing memory, cognition and attention span, especially for seniors. So when he learned that the Community Literacy Foundation was in need of someone to build a pair of Little Free Libraries (LFL) to place inside local nursing homes so seniors could have easy access to fresh reading material, he volunteered his services.

Woodworking has been Dan’s hobby for more than 50 years. It’s a skill he learned from his father, and he’s passing it down to his grandson, Drew, 14. The duo have built smaller projects together, things like birdhouses and an archery bow, and they teamed up to build the LFLs for Cedarcrest Manor and Grandview Healthcare Center, both in Washington, Mo. They have since built another LFL for Sunset Health Care Center in Union, Mo. (The LFL at Cedarcrest has been relocated to Oak Pointe of Washington.)

Drew was 8 or 9 when Dan began teaching him about woodworking. “We’ve got a fully equipped shop at our place, so whenever Drew would come to hang out with us on the weekends, we just progressed out there to build and work on things,” Dan said.

Drew, the son of Robyn and Matthew Busekrus, Washington, and a member of Boy Scout Troop 462, said building the LFLs was much more detailed than his prior woodworking projects, but he welcomed the challenge, knowing the experience will help him when he’s ready to start his Eagle Scout project with the Boy Scouts. This project gave him more experience using power tools.

The biggest challenge in building the LFL was coming up with a design. Dan and Drew didn’t have a blueprint to follow, so they created their own. “It was test, fail, test, fail, identify a problem and find a solution,” Drew remarked, noting they modeled their approach after the Project Lead the Way curriculum taught in the Washington School District. The main pitfall was finding a design strong enough to hold books and also hold up the roof of the structure, Drew said, adding that the style is slightly different for each LFL. They styled each of the LFL to resemble a community staple — a school, church, and house. “When we came up with our design and sketched it out, we looked at where they would be located, what they might see when they look out the window,” Drew said. His favorite so far is the church style located inside Sunset Health Care Center. He likes the pointy roof.

The Busekrus family donated all of the materials, including the wood taken from trees on Drew’s parents’ property. They had the raw wood milled by Danny Scheer in Krakow. Drew appreciated getting to see that transformation. “I had never seen a natural tree cut down and go through its cycles to become a usable material,” he said, noting the trees were live but were dying at the top. Now the wood from those trees, which were certified by an arborist to be more than 200 years old, has been preserved and put to good use.

The same can be said for all of the materials used to build each of the LFLs. “Everything we used was repurposed materials,” Dan said. “There was nothing purchased. It was all repurposed.”

Dan and Drew said they enjoyed building the first LFLs so much that they will build as many more as the Community Literacy Foundation needs. In fact, they are already thinking of their next design — maybe a bookstore styled after Neighborhood Reads, Dan suggested.

“It was a fun project to do together, spending time and learning together,” he remarked.

“It’s very rewarding too. This is a pretty cool project. It’s always good to give back to the community.” It made it even more special that it benefits senior citizens.

“We want to think about the people in these homes and appreciate what they have done for our communities,” Dan said.

Drew, who will be a freshman at Washington High School this fall and who is thinking about a future career in construction or woodworking, agreed.

“It's always nice to give back,” he said, noting this project counted as service hours for his membership in the National Honor Society.

Books for the LFL were purchased using a grant from a Franklin County Area United Way, a donation from Gretchen and Brett Kelley, and funds raised by the Community Literacy Foundation.

If you would like to donate to support the LFL project, visit our donation link.

A date too good to refuse

FEBRUARY 2022

Blind Date With Book fundraisers are held periodically at Neighborhood Reads bookstore! During February we offer a date too good to refuse and during September we’re introducing a mystery date. A variety of popular hardcover books are wrapped and made available for a $5 donation to the Community Literacy Foundation! The books move fast and result in sizable donations to our literacy fund for upcoming projects. Thank you to Neighborhood Reads for donating the books.