FOSEL Delights Neighborhood Children with First Ever Book Giveaway

2020 has been a difficult year for all, and with limits on gatherings in place, FOSEL was unable to lighten the mood with its annual Holiday Party.  Instead, we aimed to spread a little much-needed cheer by making gifts of books to neighborhood children.  Despite a gray and rainy day on Saturday, December 12th, the event opened with a line of parents and their children, masked and socially distanced, waiting to be the first recipients of the Library’s gift books. Tables with new, carefully selected titles, organized according to age, were set up in Library Park and children were invited to choose their favorites to take home in brightly colored book bags emblazoned with the FOSEL logo.  A handful of chocolate kisses were tossed in with each bag, adding a touch more sweetness to the treat of reading.  

Among the books on offer were classics for the very young, including board book versions of Corduroy, Pete’s a Pizza, The Snowy Day and Snowmen at Night, and popular picture books for 4-10 year-olds including Library Lion, Strega Nona, and A Bad Case of Stripes.  Also available was artist/activist Faith Ringgold’s beautifully illustrated Tar Beach, loved by adults as well as children. For slightly older kids, there were two chapter books, Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot and The Unicorn Rescue Society’s The Creature of the Pines (described as “the perfect fit for newly independent readers”).  And for kids who prefer to read in Spanish, the program offered No dejes Que La Paloma Conduzca el Autobus by beloved children’s book author and former Sesame Street writer Mo Willems, and Un Caso Grave de Rayas.

Tracey Bolotnick, FOSEL board member and one of the organizers of the program, notes that the gifting of books to children living in the South End is a first for our Library.  “It’s been a tough year for our community. An event like this brings us together, gives us something we can all joyfully anticipate, and promotes reading to boot.”

Regretfully, the planned second weekend of the Holiday Book Giveaway had to be cancelled due to Boston’s intensified Covid restrictions, but FOSEL is committed to distributing the remaining books to neighborhood kids and plans to partner with the Boston Public Schools to do so.  The librarians will hold back a portion of the remaining gift books to hand out to families who come by the Library while supplies last.  

All images courtesy of Hermine Muskat

A TRIBUTE TO FOSEL'S FOUNDING DIRECTOR, MARLEEN NIENHUIS, AS SHE STEPS DOWN

WITH KIND APPRECIATION FOR MARLEEN NIENHUIS

 “A hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.”  -- Maya Angelou

Marleen next to the Little Free Library Box she installed in front of her home after the pandemic caused the closure of the Library

The Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) offers warm thanks and heartfelt appreciation to Marleen Nienhuis for all she has done for the South End Library (SEL), Library Park and the neighboring community.  As a direct result of her dedication and hard work, the SEL has become a more relevant, attractive, and welcoming place for all.

Back in 2008, believing libraries to be among “the most important civic institutions of a democracy” and seeing the unfulfilled potential for the SEL to be a vibrant community resource, Marleen spearheaded the creation of FOSEL with the aim of renovating the Library’s interior, reorienting the Park from a site of neglect to a safe green space, and creating programs for the enjoyment and benefit of the neighboring community.

When shortly thereafter the City announced a plan to consolidate and eliminate branch libraries, Marleen and FOSEL tabled these initial goals and redirected their efforts toward advocating to save the library.  Happily, they were successful.    

Once the threat of closure had been averted, Marleen re-focused her energies on making improvements, beginning with the outdoor space.  Together with like-minded volunteers, Marleen set about cleaning up the Park, cutting back overgrown shrubs, replanting with donations from local nurseries, ensuring reliable trash collection, and organizing programming for both children and adults.  This work eventually led to a full redesign of the Park area to include a central plaza with seating, an overhaul of the soil, a new butterfly garden, and the installation of an automated irrigation system.  In the fall of 2019, before the landscaping was completed, Marleen oversaw the planting of thousands of bulbs, which provided some much-needed delight to the neighborhood during the 2020 spring bloom. 

Under Marleen’s leadership, FOSEL established a variety of successful programs including the popular author series, The South End Writes (bringing in celebrated authors to discuss their books), Local Focus Windows (featuring exhibits about activities of interest in the community), periodic Book Award highlights and displays, Easter egg hunts for community kids, jazz and blues summer concerts, and children’s performances.  In addition to creating these programs, Marleen managed their publication and promotion, building a membership for FOSEL, developing a newsletter to stay connected, and creating this website.

In 2016-17, when the Walsh Administration demonstrated an interest in renovating Boston libraries, including branches like the SEL, Marleen sprang into action, coordinating a proposal for a multi-phased plan to improve the Library’s interior with funding from a public/private partnership between the Boston Public Library and FOSEL.  Under the first phase of the plan, the existing interior of the Library would be “refreshed” and updated, with the following phase to see a much bigger renovation/expansion of the entire building.  The refresh was successfully completed in February 2020.  Today the Library looks wonderfully cheerful, comfortable, and inviting, thanks in large part to Marleen’s tireless advocacy and unwavering commitment to energize the community.

Marleen took a personal, hands-on approach to the planning and execution of all of these programs and improvements, generously deploying her many talents as a trained journalist, accomplished artist, charismatic speaker, and even competent seamstress (at one point taking up a sewing needle to make new cushions for a seating area in the Library).  She regularly put in full time work weeks on a purely volunteer basis.     

As she prepared to step down from FOSEL, Marleen took pains to ensure the organization would be well situated to move ahead without her. She undertook a successful campaign to expand the board and recruit volunteer directors to continue the work she started.  She also played a key role in establishing a large advisory board, comprised of talented and committed individuals with a wide range of skills, who graciously lend FOSEL their expertise as needed. 

Marleen’s contributions to the South End community extend beyond her efforts on behalf of the Library.  In addition to serving as the membership chair of the Rutland Square Neighborhood Association for several years, she was a key player in the transformative renovation of Titus Sparrow Park, working for years to make it an essential hub of family and recreational activity for South Enders.   

Throughout her many years in the community, wherever she saw room for improvement, Marleen stalwartly took up the challenge of making the South End a better place.  We salute her many contributions and celebrate her achievements.

-The Board of Directors of FOSEL, 2020-2021

Library Park's Long-awaited Renovation Has Been Completed, Pandemic or Not, with Funding from City and State, and Private Donations

In June and July, with the City still in a lockdown except for permitted construction work, Blade of Grass landscapers and Henry Hafenrichter, a local fencing contractor, completed the multi-year renovation of Library Park. Three years ago, the Parks Department agreed to redesign the park, rather than just repair what was broken (which was just about everything). The most important change, neighbors said in a local meeting about various proposed plans, was that the park offer an open plan, visible from all corners, with a variety of seating arrangements and a welcoming feel.

After the redesign, no money was left for landscaping the park but a $25,000 earmark from the State, requested by the then-newly sworn-in South End State Rep. Jon Santiago, and supported by our other State Rep., Aaron Michlewitz, came through in January 2020. That allowed FOSEL to contract with landscapers and fencing contractor, get approval from South End Landmark Dictrict Commission, and overcome the additional hurdles of Covid-19 permits in time to spend the State’s money before June 30, the end of their fiscal year. If it had not been spent by that time, the State would have taken back the earmark. Fancy footwork, assisted by knowledgeable employees of the BPL, helped to make it all happen in time. Additional renovation costs were covered by capital funds FOSEL had raised in 2017-18.

Library Park will only look better as the plantings settle in over the next year or two. They include Veronica, Echinacea, Buddlea, Amsonia, Liatris, Rudbekcia, Carex, Ginger, Ferns, Woodland Phlox, Hosts and Hydrangeas. The butterfly garden along Tremont Street has already shown its lovely colors. A timed drip-irrigation system was installed as well, to help the plants survive the latest drought. And FOSEL’s board has approved additional funding for another round of spring bulbs to make the spring 2021 habit of Library Park as beautiful as it was before. We’re culling the catalogues now, will order in the bulbs in the next week and plant in late fall.

Chances are, when abloom again, we and the park will live in better days.