Tom Brown Rotary’s Downtowner of Year, Mary-Jo Langston Rotarian of Year
LOCK HAVEN — Thomas L. Brown, was named the 2020 Downtowner of the Year by the Rotary Club of Downtown Lock Haven, and received the award Sept. 15.
The club also honored Mary-Jo Langston as Rotarian of the Year on the same evening. Langston used her technology skills to switch the club from in-person meetings to online meetings during the Covid-19 shutdown. These meetings were very successful and kept the club moving ahead, with Langston serving as host and members calling each other to make sure all could log on and join in.
The Rotarians have just now started meeting in person again and have chosen the Poorman Gallery, 232 W. Water St., as their new meeting place. The club can always meet online now, when needed.
Brown, of T.L. Brown and Sons Construction, was honored for helping the Rotarians make one of their dreams come true. He has built Little Libraries for the club and installed them in four different parks in the city. The Little Libraries look like little red schoolhouses, and each has a door with a big window that readers can look through to see the free books inside.
The club and Brown installed the first two Little Libraries in Triangle Park and Hanna Park in 2019, then followed that up with two more Little Libraries this year, in Hoberman Park and Hammermill Park.
For the two new ones, Brown has added a hook on the post, below the door and out of the way. The hook is for anyone to hang up a bag or the end of a dog leash and free up both hands for book browsing.
The Little Libraries are sponsored by the Rotary Club and supported by the community and the neighborhoods they serve. The “little red schoolhouses” hold books for both children and adults, free for the taking. Anyone may take a book, or leave a book for someone else. The broken door has been repaired on the Hoberman Park Little Library, and it has just reopened. The club asked if you know anything about how the window was broken, please call 570-660-2581.
