(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The librarian at Roberto Clemente Community High School in Ukrainian Village is hoping to win a grant from a national non-profit because she says the kids deserve better than the library they have now.
“A school library is the lungs of a school. It is where students go to take a deep breath,” says Andie Townhouse.
Townhouse was hired as library director at Roberto Clemente last year — the school’s first librarian in 13 years.
“And I walk in and the library is flooded because a ceiling tile had exploded. And I walked into 12,000 books that were completely outdated, misinformed, that hadn’t been checked out for decades, that had black mold in them,” she recalls.
She’s been able to get some new books, but she says the money doesn’t go as far as it did last year.
And the library itself?
Clemente is one of 10 libraries around the country that’s a finalist for a grant from the not-for-profit Heart of America. It is the only Illinois school that’s a finalist.
Townhouse is hoping people will vote online to show their support.
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