SAVANNAH — He didn’t know it, but a high school student recently re-introduced education to a historical property in Savannah that is now a park.
Kevin Spears, 17, recently built a Little Free Library and Blessing Box for Savannah Academy Park as part of a community service project.
The Crestview High School senior designed the combo structure that now offers the village of 374 people a chance to give and receive books, magazines and food.
Savannah Academy Park is named after the 1800s schoolhouse that once stood there for area students. It was built in 1856, said Mayor Thomas Kruse.
“It stood here for almost 100 years,” Kruse said, standing on the park’s property shortly after he and other village council members dedicated Spears’ library and blessing box.
“This was the boys’ dormitory and the girls’ dormitory was down there a ways,” he said, pointing to brick houses nearby.
He said the village then built another school in 1922, closing the academy and transferring the property back to the village.
Now, nearly 100 years later, a component of education has returned to the property.
Spears enjoys shop work at school. He plans to pursue a career in engineering after high school.
He said his woodworking teacher approached the class with the opportunity to build a free library box, an idea that centers around offering young people with books and literature in an accessible spot without having to drive to a library. The nearest library for those who live in Savannah is the Ashland Public Library, around 15 minutes away by car.
“I just happened to be the first one to do it,” Spears said.
Spears also drafted the project himself by hand. He said he took a class at school that taught him how. His design is unique from other little free libraries, which cost $300 and up for kits, in that it incorporates the library aspect on one side, and a “blessing box” on the other — which contains non-perishable food items that people can drop off.
The blessing box idea allows people in need to grab canned goods without driving to a food pantry.
Spears’ project was funded largely by his father, Jesse, who said it cost around $600. Village council members pitched in with smaller donations. In all, Spears put around 40 hours into the project.
The village installed the green Little Free Library and Blessing Box at the end of a sidewalk “that appeared to go nowhere anyway.”
“We’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while,” said Andy Kinney, a village councilman. “It’s a kind of project that I think a lot of people would think is kinda small, but my thought is Savannah is kind of a small, tight-knit community, so for us this is a big deal.”
