Igrew
Kim Parsons works with PitCare to develop a new children’ s library for the community of Pitcairn.
“ up in Sparta, a small town in Southern Illinois,” says Pitcairn resident Kim Parsons.“ The local library was always an important part of my youth.” Having fostered a love for reading and books at a young age, she decided to share her passion with the community.
Parsons, who is married with eight children and 12 grandchildren, lived in Monroeville during the 1990s, then moved away for a time and recently returned to Pittsburgh.
Parsons and her husband, Scott, are involved with a local organization called PitCare that formally became a nonprofit organization in 2012. PitCare focuses on breaking the chains of generational poverty, strengthening families and creating hope for the next generation through education, job training, counseling and spiritual guidance. The organization’ s main focus is to serve as advocates for those in need and to foster personal relationships through programming that benefits the younger community of Pitcairn.
“ At PitCare, we promote the dignity and worth of every person,” explains Parsons.“ My husband and I saw the need for a library that would contribute positively to the community’ s growth.”
One of her co-workers recently received dozens of books from a retired school teacher.“ With that donation, we realized we had the start of a library, and the idea blossomed from there,” says Parsons.
Pitcairn Library officially opened on Dec. 3, 2016, and is temporarily located in PitCare’ s Second Street building.
Currently, the library has over 1,000 books and counting, with donations from community members and other organizations. All of the library supplies have been purchased by PitCare or donated. The organization received books from a drive sponsored by PNC Bank last fall, as well as several items from the Monroeville Public Library that were duplicates or going to be discarded.
St. Paul’ s Lutheran Church was recently purchased as a permanent space for the library and Parsons, who has taken on the role as Library Director, is working hard to move all the books into the new space that will be called“ PitCare on Center.”
“ I am far from a librarian by trade,” laughs Parsons.“ I’ m working on familiarizing myself with the books we have, going through donated boxes and developing a way to categorize and label things.”
Although still learning the ropes, she is already familiar with running libraryrelated programs. Last summer, she organized and ran a weekly summer storytime that 20 children attended throughout the season.
“ My main goal is to allow Pitcairn kids to develop a love of reading and help them discover that, with reading, you can go on all types of adventures, learn about exotic, foreign places, or even pick up a new skill that will benefit you throughout your life,” says Parsons.
Even though the Pitcairn Library’ s early-on attendance has been a bit low, there are high hopes for the new space.“ With the move, I believe we’ ll see an increase in attendance,” she notes.“ The Monroeville Library is being very helpful in loaning us books and new material, and will also be offering programs with our location soon. I have no doubt our library will soon meet our eventual goal of creating a place that people can come to get books, hang out, get help and grow.”
For more information about the new Pitcairn Library, email Kim Parsons at kimparsons11 @ yahoo. com. n
Monroeville | Spring 2017 | icmags. com 15