Books from shuttered Mat-Su school get second life through free book program

What you need to know:

• Hundreds of books from the recently closed Meadow Lakes Elementary School, along with other surplus books from across the district, are being redistributed by the Bright Lights Book Project instead of being discarded.
• Volunteers are handing out some of the books through Bright Lights' free Summer in the Parks program, which combines storytimes, educational activities and free books for preschool and elementary school-age children at parks in Palmer.
• The partnership between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District and Bright Lights keeps surplus books in circulation by stocking free bookshelves throughout Mat-Su, sending books to remote Alaska villages and planning additional giveaways at the Alaska State Fair. Books are also placed on public shelves throughout the region.

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PALMER – Hundreds of books removed from one of Mat-Su’s permanently shuttered schools are on their way to local children through a summerlong literacy project in Palmer instead of being sent to the discard pile.

About 100 boxes of books removed from the now-closed Meadow Lakes Elementary School and left behind by school families, teachers, and the district’s other librarians were given to Bright Lights Book Project volunteers earlier this month, said district spokesman John Notestine. They were immediately integrated into the organization’s new Summer in the Parks effort, Bright Lights officials said. 

The effort is part of a partnership between Bright Lights and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District that began last year and keeps books out of the shredder and in the community after they are no longer needed in schools, Notestine said.

Glacier View School and Larson and Meadow Lakes elementary schools were permanently closed at the end of the school year as part of sweeping district budget cuts. Glacier View's books will likely remain at the school and be repurposed as part of a new community center there, officials said.

Notestine said Big Lake Elementary School received books from Larson to update its collection and replace well-worn or little-used material. About 85 boxes of books pulled from Big Lake's shelves were sent to Bright Lights, he said.

The Big Lake and Meadow Lakes elementary school collections are already well on their way to Mat-Su homes, said Bright Lights Executive Director Alys Culhane. Volunteers immediately added selections to kits created for the new summer-long literacy program, which meets from noon to 2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at Bugge Park on Cobb Street in Palmer and Tuesdays and Thursdays at Palmer's A-Moosement Park through Aug. 15, she said. A related program is hosted at the weekly Friday Fling in Palmer.

The program's educators, including longtime Cottonwood Creek Elementary School kindergarten teacher Mike Purcell, host storytimes and activities centered on daily themes such as worms, dinosaurs and butterflies.

Culhane said the locations were chosen because of their proximity to Bright Lights' Palmer headquarters. Staying close this year allows organizers to test the pilot program before possibly expanding it to other regional locations next year, she said.

The effort hosted more than 75 preschool and early elementary school-age children during just its first five days, handing out dozens of books tied to each day's theme. Volunteers at a June 4 stop at A-Moosement Park helped about a dozen children learn about plants and pot a small plant before browsing a wagon of books.

The near-daily park gatherings are paired with visits by Kids Kupboard, which provides about 1,000 free lunches to Mat-Su children each day during summer break. The joint effort is a natural fit, said outreach coordinator Hally Marshall.

"It works hand in hand," she said. "We want to provide nourishment not only with food, but also for the brain."

Local donations and grants from the Mat-Su Health Foundation, the city of Palmer, the Palmer Lions Club, and the Rasmuson Foundation support the project, she said.

When the Summer in the Parks program ends just before school resumes in August, volunteers will shift to a free book distribution project at the Alaska State Fair, likely near the equestrian area, Culhane said. That effort will include a public art project converting discarded Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper boxes into Little Free Libraries in partnership with the People's Paper and Mat-Su Sentinel.

'Serendipitous' books

Books from Big Lake and Meadow Lakes not handed out this summer will be added to Bright Light’s overall collection and given out through one of the organization’s many programs, placed on free book shelves throughout Mat-Su or shipped to remote Alaska villages for distribution, Culhane said.

What started in 2019 as a way to repurpose books headed to the shredder at the Valley Recycling Center has grown into a large operation housed in two first-floor rooms at the Eagle Hotel in Palmer.

About 60,000 children's and adult books on topics ranging from "Albania" to "Zoo" are shelved in nearly 1,000 cardboard boxes and awaiting distribution. Other recently donated titles are stacked near the door, ready for cleaning and categorization.

The process includes carefully examining each book for binding problems, shaking out loose papers tucked between the pages, wiping down the covers, and adding a "Bright Lights Book Project" stamp.

Culhane, a self-described bibliophile who holds a doctorate in composition and rhetoric, said she tries to assign volunteers to books in genres or subjects they enjoy so they can form a small connection with each one they handle before sending it back into the community.

"It's a little serendipitous," she said. "I used to be very grounded, but now I think the serendipity is in the whole community. We're going to be known as a community with a lot of readers."

Like many book lovers, titles also have a way of making their way to Culhane’s home before going out into the world, she said.

"That's a little problem," she said. "The house is full – we need a bigger house."

Bright Lights Book Project accepts donations year-round but requires titles to fall within certain parameters. For example, it does not accept erotica, textbooks, or encyclopedias, according to its website. Books that ultimately cannot be distributed because of their condition are turned into art projects by the program's artist in residence or recycled, Culhane said.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com