PITTSBURGH (May 10, 2019) -- West View Elementary School’s new Little Free Library was unveiled Friday morning and dedicated to longtime North Hills School Board member Arlene Bender.
The project was spearheaded by the West View Parent/Teacher Association and its vice president Krissy Evans.
Evans wanted to add a lending library to the West View community and sought out Bender’s help in doing so.
Last summer, Bender, before her passing, helped Evans get the project off the ground.
The library was built by students from the A.W. Beattie Career Center: Benjamin Senchak, a North Hills junior, and Vincent Donatelli and Christopher Rudy, two seniors at Deer Lakes High School.
"It feels awesome to give this to the community to share books with each other and to give everyone a piece of Beattie,” Senchak said. “We put a lot of time and effort into it to make it special."
Bender served nearly 35 years on the North Hills School Board before her death last August.
Her husband was on hand for Friday’s dedication.
"She would be joyous today with what took place here with the kindergarteners, the student ambassadors, the school board, the teachers and A.W. Beattie,” Jim Bender said. “She would just thrive on this and celebrate everyone involved with this at North Hills School District and A.W. Beattie Career Center.”
Little Free Library was founded in 2009 by Todd Bol who built a little book exchange in honor of his late mother, a teacher. There are now more than 75,000 Little Free Libraries across the world.