Summit Hill residents who love to read books have a new place to find new authors and share some of their favorites with their neighbors.

Recently, 12-year-old Ruben Gledhill completed his reading merit badge for Boys Scouts Troop 765 in the Panther Valley and his project is one that will help readers enjoy a variety of books without going to a bookstore.

“I’ve been wanting to build a lending library for the community after seeing little huts in other towns,” Ruben’s mother, Patty, said. “When my son needed to earn online merit badges for the Boy Scouts due to his troop not being able to congregate in the pandemic, and after he chose to do the reading badge, I thought this might be a good opportunity to get him to build it with me and earn credit for community work he needed as part of the badge requirements.”

Gledhill spoke with the merit badge counselor and her son got the green light to begin a new library hut.

Ruben and his mother used repurposed wood, windows and other materials that the family had laying around to build the small hut, which now stands across from the Summit Hill Post Office on West Hazard Street.

“Coming from the Dominican Republic where nothing goes to waste out of dire need, I try to instill in my boys a sense of responsibility for the environment, to not be wasteful, and I try to teach them skills they can use in real life, away from video games, as well as making a difference in the world,” Gledhill said.

Ruben also said he was happy to help the community by providing a place where reading materials can be found when libraries are closed. “Children and adults in town can share their love for books, walk to the hut and have it locally available rather than drive out of town,” he said.

The books inside the library hut are family friendly and available for all ages to borrow. There are also activity and sticker books, as well a Bibles available to anyone, but Ruben asks that Bibles be limited to one per household, and sticker and activity books be limited to one per child so that many children could benefit.

How the library hut works is you take a book and then just return it when you are done reading it.

You can also leave a book in the hut to add to the collection for people to share. Books must be family friendly in nature and large donations of books is not advised at this time because of spacing.

Ruben and Patty also ask people to take care of the books and during the pandemic, to exercise good hygiene when handling the books. If you are sick, they ask you to refrain from visiting the hut until you feel well or to not return the book.

A Facebook group for the library hut has also been created to allow people to request titles, swap books that are out on loan and more. The group can be found at www.facebook.com/groups/SHCommunityLibraryHut.