For many a young man, making Eagle Scout has been a distinguished rite of passage. Now it’s a rite for young women, too. Rebecca Gilder, who will be the first female Eagle Scout in Westchester County, is completing the final step of this achievement, working on her Eagle Scout project. She is building and installing little free libraries around her hometown of White Plains.
As her proud father Evan writes us: “As libraries have closed during the Covid lockdown, and the thirst of many to read continued, the need for these libraries became apparent, and the community of White Plains rallied behind her. In addition, this project was mostly green with all of the materials donated from people’s garages…. She had originally planned on building two libraries but quickly realized she could build four of them thanks to all the donations. This now involves a fifth grade class that has created an art project around this, the result of which will be installed on the school property.
“Kids were invited to do artwork on the boxes and it has been truly amazing to watch it all. The first box was completed last week and within 10 minutes of installation, the first children had already arrived and started looking at (and donating) books.”
Did we mention Rebecca also volunteers for an after-school helping elementary school kids with their homework? Rebecca, you go, girl.