Mission: 
With love and expertise, Mansfield City Schools prepares diverse leaders and builds positive relationships with students, staff, and educational allies.

Vision: 
Mansfield City Schools will be the premier learning destination of Richland County.

Laundry Basket Library

LAUNDRY BASKET LIBRARY
Mansfield City Schools’ Laundry Basket Library was established in 2001 as a community outreach by Deb McKee, Title I Family Involvement Coordinator at that time. When funding for the program was discontinued by Title I a few years later, Deb began enlisting volunteers and soliciting donations. We are celebrating 20 years of serving our community with this book project as of June, 2021.

With the celebration comes new leadership, ideas and design of this literacy project. Our new Overall Coordinator for the Laundry Basket Library Project is Susie Ryckman, who is a veteran volunteer with the program. 

The purpose of this project is to provide access to books for families across Mansfield. Laundry baskets filled with books for all ages, are placed in supermarkets, gas stations, clinics, restaurants, carry-outs, our local hospital, bus station, tutoring programs, and social service agencies. Each basket is labeled with the invitation to “Enjoy a Free Book or Two”. The books are for all ages with the hope that all family members will pick up a book to read.

We have gone through many transitions over the past 20 years. We began with one volunteer and two sites in 2001, while working out of two former shower stalls in Hedges School. We then moved to Sherman School in 2006, which is currently the “home” for our books. This has enabled us to have much more storage as we have grown. Presently we are serving 25 sites with laundry baskets, with deliveries made once or twice a month. These deliveries total about 1,000 free books per month! Books are donated from various sources such as teachers, community members, partner organizations, church rummage sales, Friends of the Library, and garage sales.

We adapted our LBL book outreach to meet the challenges of COVID when we were unable to deliver books to our usual baskets for over a year. We sought out community agencies that were already serving families by a home visit or at “grab and go” sites like the Summer Recreation Parks program and provided books to include in their programs.

This program would not exist without our Valuable Volunteers! We have over twenty folks who regularly sort, pack and deliver books, some registered with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP).

Program Coordinator Susie is always looking for more volunteers and donations. If you have books that you no longer want, please keep this project in mind. If you would like to volunteer or donate, please contact Susie at 419-564-9555.
Laundry Basket Library Sites
Catalyst - The Center for Individual and Family Services
741 School Road 

Catalyst - Rehabilitation Center
270 Sterkel Blvd. 

Chugz
77 S. Diamond St. 

Clean Jeans
225 Ashland Rd. 

Colonial Coin Laundry
190 Marion Ave. 

CVS
Corner of 4th & Trimble

Family Dollar
660 S. Diamond St.

First English Lutheran Church Day School
53 Park Ave. W.

Friendly House
380 N. Mulberry 

Grace Episcopal Church Food Pantry
41 Bowman St. 

Juvenile Justice Center
411 S. Diamond St. 

KV Market
359 W. 4th St.

Mansfield Restaurant - Southside
948 S. Main St. 

Mansfield Restaurant - Westside
1090 Park Ave. W.

Med-Central-4N. Tower
335 Glessner Ave. 

Med-Central Emergency Room
335 Glessner Ave 

Mosaic Baptist Church
296 Park Ave. W.

Ohio Health ER
335 Glessner Ave.

Ohio Health 4 North
335 Glessner Ave.

Prospect Tutoring Program
485 Gilbert Ave.

Richland County Transit
74 S. Diamond St. 

Richland Pregnancy Services
1560 W. 4th St. 

Ridgeway First Church of God
1380 Park Ave. E.

Sherman Elementary MORE Program
1138 Springmill St. 

Speedway
1321 Park Ave. West 

Speedway
564 N. Trimble 

Thrifty Wash Laundromat
186 Ford St.

Zoe's Learning Center
105 Reba Ave.
© 2024 Mansfield City School District.
All Rights Reserved.
Website by eSchoolView