LOCAL LIFE
ONE OF THE HILLS FINEST ...
John and Norm from Glenwood Men ’ s Shed have done a great job of water proofing the new library . by Lorna Gordon
I first spoke to Jennifer Brinsden back in 2020 when Covid had hit and we were in lockdown . Jennifer ’ s son Evan has asthma and had started his lock down two weeks earlier than the rest of his school friends and was becoming quite bored with his new stay at home lifestyle .
To keep him busy , Jennifer and her husband Joe helped Evan make his own garden and Evan was happy to start planting seeds to grow his own plants . He then decided to clear his room of all the old books he no longer wanted and asked his mum if he could put them outside for other children to take home to read and Evans Street Library was born .
The street library has come a long way since 2020 , with it now being known as Evans Garden Library and Community Kindness Project . It still has the fantastic collection of books , games , toys and DVDs for children and adults , but , as its name suggests , it now offers much more to the community .
It was lovely to speak to Jennifer to get an update on the library and all the good they are doing in the community .
“ We still get so many people coming to the library ; it ’ s really become a social hub for the community . When we put out new items I post it on social media , and I know within 24 hours it will have gone to good homes and new people will be enjoying the items .
“ We also get requests from the community for certain things , we recently had a childcare centre ask for books to give their children for end of year gifts , so I looked for good quality picture and baby books for them . It ’ s a great way to keep items out of landfill and be sustainable .”
For the past two years , Jennifer has also helped out a teacher at a school in Blacktown which has one of the biggest ‘ English as a second language ’ programs , she has a large number of refugee children in her classes .
“ One specific thing the teacher asked for were early readers which had topics that were more suited to older children . So , we keep our eyes open for this type of book and keep them for her to give to these children .
“ Many of these kids don ’ t have school supplies and a couple of times she has asked if we had any stationery for them . We put a shout out on our social media and people donated stationery and notebooks and we made up backpacks for the kids . Most recently she asked for help with some school shoes , and again we asked our community if they could help . We had some second hand school shoes donated and one lady went out and bought 20 pairs of shoes for the children .
“ A shoe isn ’ t just a shoe to these
6 ISSUE 102 // DECEMBER 2023 MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS ! theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT