by Garry Daeke
FGV Smart Start has started the Little Free Library program as a way to promotion reading for children, literacy for adults and libraries around the community. 
It’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where people share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.
Vance County United Way, through its United We Read, United We Succeed program, granted funds to Smart Start to start this effort. Smart Start will set up four of these libraries in the community. Smart Start has ample supplies of children’s books for the libraries, and local citizens, along with the Friends of the Perry Library, will be assisting with book drives and collections to assist with additional books.
The mission is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges, and to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.