During August, West Haven Public Library in West Haven, Connecticut, has been making efforts to promote kindness and philanthropy in their local community. They are encouraging everyone to give back however they can. Thee library created an initiative called the Carnegie Challenge in honor of their library’s original benefactor, Andrew Carnegie.
One part of the challenge is the goal of completing 100 Acts of Kindness. Inside the library, there are “challenge boards,” where members can get ideas for acts of kindness that they can perform. Once an act of kindness is completed, members can post their act on another board as a visual representation of their progress of reaching their goal of 100 acts.
“Our 100 Acts of Kindness event is meant to instill a sense of philanthropy in the community by "challenging" patrons to do kind or generous things for the people around them or for their community.” - Taylor LaBarbera, Reference Associate at West Haven
The library also recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Carnegie Community Garden. Community members will care for the garden, and the fruits and vegetables grown by the garden will be donated to local food pantries. West Haven Library is excited to get their garden up and running to see what fruit these seeds of kindness will bring to the entire community.
Employees at West Haven Library are inspired by the life that Andrew Carnegie lead. He was an immigrant, an industrialist, and a philanthropist, and they want to share his story with the patrons of the library. They hope that their members and others in the community will continue to give back long after this challenge has ended. Follow along with West Haven’s journey on their social pages today.