On June 1, Nicholas Yon and his son, Everett, 9, set up a Little Free Library in front of their home in Plum’s Regency Park neighborhood.
Brian C. Rittmeyer | Tribune-Review
A Little Free Library stands in front of Nicholas and Everett Yon’s home on Regency Drive in Plum.
Brian C. Rittmeyer | Tribune-Review
Nicholas Yon and his son, Everett, 9, check the books inside their Little Free Library in Plum on June 19.
Brian C. Rittmeyer | Tribune-Review
Nicholas and Everett Yon’s library on Regency Drive in Plum is one of more than 150,000 Little Free Libraries around the world.
Brian C. Rittmeyer | Tribune-Review
Nicholas and Everett Yon used money raised from an apple cider stand in October 2022 to build their Little Free Library, which they placed June 1 in front of their home on Regency Drive in Plum.
Like many children, 9-year-old Everett Yon likes to share and seeks to connect.
Everett wanted to meet people in Plum’s Regency Park neighborhood, where he has lived with his father, Nicholas Yon, since 2018. He also wanted to share his love of reading.
His idea to operate an apple cider stand so his neighbors had something fun to do in the fall funded the construction of a Little Free Library they put up in front of their Regency Drive home this spring.
“We are really, really excited to have it up,” said Nicholas, 41. “I do have to say the idea man, the brainstormer, it was Everett’s idea. He had this simple idea to share his love of reading, and it turned into this amazing, positive thing.
“I always say that Everett’s your friend before you even know it. That’s just a testament to him wanting to connect and engage with everyone in the most positive way possible.”
Bearing Charter No. 155826, the Yons’ library is part of the Little Free Library network. Since the first was built in Wisconsin in 2009, it has grown to more than 150,000 libraries serving all 50 states and 120 countries.
A nonprofit organization, Little Free Library is based in St. Paul, Minn. The organization’s map shows 50 Little Free Libraries in the Pittsburgh region, although not all may be included.
“At the Little Free Library nonprofit organization, our mission is to build community, inspire readers and expand book access for everyone,” spokeswoman Margret Aldrich said. “Everett is doing all three of these things with his Little Free Library.
“We are so impressed with the library he and his father built together, and we hope that they will meet lots of neighbors and read lots of great books this summer.”
Find your nearby library
With the Little Free Library map, users can get serach by “Near Me” to find libraries based on your current location. Search by Location to search by any city, state/province or postal code. Search by Charter Number if you know a library’s unique charter number.
When Everett had the idea for his apple cider stand, his father said, they talked about taking donations and giving the money to a local charity.
“The more we talked, Everett continued to talk about how much he just loves reading and how much he loves to share his love of reading with people,” said Nicholas, who works as director of communications for Northland Public Library in McCandless.
“We had seen Little Free Libraries, and we’ve donated books to Little Free Libraries. It kind of just organically transformed from there. Everett said, what if we have the apple cider stand, raise some money and build a Little Free Library so that everyone in our neighborhood can have free access to books?”
Everett made flyers they took to their neighbors telling them about their cider stand Oct. 29.
“When we were done walking around to all our neighbors, he looked at me and said it’s already been awesome because we met so many new people,” Nicholas said.
They raised $198. Materials to build the library cost about $250. The lifetime fee to become part of Little Free Library was $40.
“To have that paid for mostly by people who are just in the neighborhood interested in the project was pretty incredible,” Nicholas said.
They built it together at home over the winter, based on Everett’s drawing of what it would look like. Nicholas figures they put in about six hours of work.
“I like it,” Everett said. “I like how it all came together.”
They did have to make a change. After marking where they wanted to put the library in their yard along the road, Nicholas contacted the Pennsylvania One Call system, which marked the underground utility lines.
“The gas and water cross right where our spot was,” he said. “We had to shift it.”
The library contains books for kids to adults. They post updates about its offerings on Instagram and Facebook.
The first books came from their own collection, donations from family and friends, and some discards from Northland. The goal is for it to become self-sustaining, where people take books they want and leave ones for others.
“Even if no one puts anything in there, we’ll be able to keep filling it,” Nicholas said. “We have access to a lot of books.”
They’ve also put in CDs, DVDs and Lego sets, and plan to put in crafting kits.
“It’s really about books, but it’s also anything literacy- and exploration-based that we can expand upon — we’ll for sure put out there,” Nicholas said. “We want people to be able to connect and explore not just through books but through any type of activity or crafting that they can.”
He checks the library daily and usually finds something gone or something new every other day.
“It’s cool to come home and see what’s been taken and to see what people have put in,” he said.
Better yet is when they’re home and see someone coming.
On the second day, a family with four kids walked by who they hadn’t seen before. They went outside to meet them, and each of the kids took a book.
Another day, the Yons were chalking in their driveway when a man and his daughter stopped. He and Nicholas talked while Everett and the girl chalked together.
“Everyone has a unique human experience. The more we can connect with one another — whether that’s through the Little Free Library, which is one of our goals, or just stopping and chatting with people — understanding the shared human experience will make you a more empathetic and understanding human being,” Nicholas said. “The more that we listen and the more that we care about others, the more that we can be empathetic, understanding and connected individuals.
“That’s another goal with this is just to meet people, to experience the world through their eyes. That sounds corny, but it’s really true. I think the world can use a lot more of that. We’re using the Little Free Library and reading as a gateway to that. In the library world, there’s a quote that reading saves lives, books save lives, and it’s true.”
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