Thanks to Publix and the United Way, avid readers can grab a free book from a new Little Free Library that was recently donated and installed in front of the movie theatre on Main Street.

The library holds a handful of books in a mailbox type unit and allows readers to take a book for free or share one of their own.

“We are extremely happy to be able to share this with the United Way,” said Publix store manager Bryan Drozd. “United Way is one of our biggest partners, so anytime we get to help is a great thing. All of us brought some books, and we were able to donate the books to United Way.”

According to Patty Youngblood, president of the United Way of West Georgia, the library is a large part of the reading initiative they have been pushing in the community.

“We have been working on literacy for a long, long time,” Youngblood said. “We have found that there are lots of people who do not have books in their home. The thing that is so cool about the Little Free Libraries is that if you have extra books in your house you can come put them in there, or if you don’t have books, there is a large variety in there from kids to adults.”

Youngblood said there was even a cookbook in the library on Thursday morning.

There are numerous other Little Free Libraries in LaGrange, including several at Granger Park. 

“We are all about literacy, and this was just another opportunity,” Youngblood said. “I got to pick the site, and I thought that having it across from the movie theatre would get a lot of traffic by it. It seemed like a really great place to put it that would be convenient. We were just thrilled the Callaway Foundation let us put it there.”

Since the Callaway Foundation owns the property, the United Way had get approval from the foundation. Callaway Foundation President Tripp Penn said he couldn’t be more grateful for that opportunity.

“We are grateful to Publix Charities and United Way for promoting literacy in the community,” Penn said. “Anything we can do to get young people excited about reading is a great thing.”

After the library kit came in, Drozd immediately came out and dug the post hole, put it together and concreted it into the ground.

“It is really is just so heartening,” Youngblood said. “This is a community effort.”