It takes a neighborhood to raise a child and ensure that young imaginations can grow and soar.
Organizations in the Niagara Neighborhood have taken that job seriously and have worked to keep the William S. Greene School Library open to its 727 elementary students.
“We wanted to help the children of the neighborhood,” said Rev. Susan H. Lee, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, just a short walk from the school at 409 Cambridge St.
When Lee asked Greene School leaders a few years back what they needed, they said they’d like to get their library back in operation. With no staff and the books “all helter-skelter,” Lee took on the challenge and continues to support the library.
“There were plenty of books, but it was disheveled,” Lee said. “It had fallen into disrepair.”
Over several months, Lee, along with church volunteers and a couple of retired teachers, organized the books, combined from the old Greene School and the former Brayton Avenue School when the two merged into the new building in 2002. The group got the books on the shelves and put systems in place for children to borrow the books.