Blind Boone Neighborhood Ice Cream Social

Bline Boone Neighborhood Ice Cream Social

On Tuesday, September 27, 2005 the Daniel Boone Regional Library’s Outreach Department helped organize a wonderful, very well attended community gathering at the Blind Boone Center in central Columbia. “Moving Ahead” was an ice cream social, a community get-together, a forum for young artists and writers, a history lesson and an introduction to library services. Children involved in the Blind Boone Center after-school tutoring and mentoring program sold handmade books of their writings at the young author’s table, others read aloud or sang at the open mic session with local poet Sean Hickem and some young people were given disposable cameras to document the event as artists/journalists.

All photos taken by students in the Moving Ahead program: Anthony McKire, Nelson Hunter, Ashlee Townsend, Barbra Smith and Tania Raybon.

The library provided tours of the small bookmobile, a storytelling tent, crafts and activities. Library staff also signed up 20 people to get library cards. Bill Stolz, Head of Reference for the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri, gave a presentation on the Oral Black History Project and brought a display about J.W. “Blind” Boone. The Columbia/Boone County Health Department, the Family Health Center of Columbia, the Columbia Housing Authority and the Columbia Police Community Service Department also participated. Schnucks supermarket helped out with a discount on the ice cream supplies. Our staff estimates that about 250 people of all ages attended the event and everyone involved has been very enthusiastic about the community response.

The Youth Outreach Bookmobile regularly stops at the Blind Boone Community Center. The goal of this second bookmobile service is to introduce youth ages 2-18 in low-income neighborhoods to the public library and to encourage reading. View more photos from the event.