Community Reads--Van Horn Public Library

We catalyzed this discussion to happen at one of the four One Town, One Title events, but more importantly, in informal settings such as around the dinner table, at the grocery store, the bank, school, the post office, anywhere residents met their neighbors. Free copies of "Patty's Journey" were made available for residents to pick up at the kick-off event, as well as three local businesses. Copies for check out were also made available at the library. Having the memoir available at local businesses was definitely successful, as several of these merchants contacted us multiple times needing additional copies of the book. In fact, the library ran out of the 75 copies we ordered and needed to purchase an additional 15 copies. The library likely could have distributed more copies, but were only able to acquire 15 within a short enough time frame. One Town, One Title kicked off with a screening of the documentary "The Children Remember." This event occurred on Tuesday, February 4 at 7 pm at the Pine Island History Center. Approximately 40 people attended this event, and it was a great success. Our second One Town One title event was a book discussion, which was held on Wednesday, February 12 at 6 pm at Better Brew Coffeehouse. Again, this event was extremely successfully with a perfectly sized group of 15 people. One of the people in attendance was a Pine Island resident whose mother lived at the Minnesota State Public School during some of her childhood years. This added a great, unexpected layer to the discussion. On February 22, we were scheduled to have our third event, which was a field trip to the Minnesota State Public School Museum in Owatonna. Prior to the event, we had approximately 30 people signed up. However, that morning we decided to postpone the event until March 8 due to unsafe road conditions. 35 people participated in the rescheduled trip. Finally, on February 27, our One Town One Title celebration concluded with a panel discussion about the current foster care and adoption process. The panelists had an intriguing mix of perspectives on this issue, which made for a very enlightening evening. Participants in the panel were: Lisa Levi, a Pine Island resident whose family has hosted and adopted several foster children; Kenyon Chief of Police Lee Sjolander, who spent some of his childhood years in foster care and has also hosted numerous foster children over the years; Richard Hacker, coordinator of foster care for Olmsted County Child and Family Services; and Matt McKay, a counselor for foster care and adoptive children and families with Family Service Rochester. This panel discussion was based on audience questions. Based on the survey responses, this project generated an increased sense of community and connectedness among participants, increased awareness and knowledge of the Minnesota State Public School and increased attendees' awareness and knowledge of the modern foster care system.