Luke Thomas and his troop volunteered time, manpower to Paseo Verde Library
HENDERSON, Nev. – Becoming an Eagle Scout is no easy task. It requires hard work and community service – good news for Paseo Verde Library, which will benefit from 15-year-old Luke Thomas efforts as he pursues his Eagle.
Thomas has always liked libraries, so when it was time to begin work on his Eagle project, he reached out to Paseo Verde Library to see what they could use some help with.
The Thomas family just moved toHendersonin September. Not yet having many friends, they had turned to Paseo Verde Library on multiple occasions to find activities for Thomas’ 4-year-old brother to participate in.
“Libraries are awesome for finding things to do in the community,” Kelli Thomas said.
Thomas’ project to benefit the Paseo Verde Library was in two phases. For the first phase of the project, Thomas and about 25 of his friends helped Henderson Libraries in its efforts to re-organize Paseo Verde Libraries’ children’s area. The library was planning to reorganize its shelving, so Thomas rallied his troop and his parents, Kelli and Ralph Thomas, to help. The 25-plus volunteers moved about 9,000 books. Once the shelves were moved to their new homes, the Eagle Scout project continued as about 20 more people came to the library and re-shelved the books.
“Luke and his friends and family were a huge help to us,” said Linda Hanks, youth services for Paseo Verde Library. “Moving the books ourselves would have taken us so much longer. With this change the children’s library has much more room for seating. We were thrilled to be the recipient of Luke’s Eagle Scout project.”
For the second phase of the project, Thomas enlisted his father’s help once more. Ralph Thomas is an artist, and the two wanted to create something in the library that would make a difference. They proposed the idea of creating a mural for the children’s area of Paseo Verde Library, and the library agreed. Thomas’ father sketched the outline of the mural on the wall of the library’s story room, and Thomas and a handful of his friends painted it. Ralph Thomas put the final touches on the mural last week.
“Having the mural on our wall really brightens the room and makes it more child friendly. It adds a wonderful dimension to our story room that we would not have been able to do ourselves,” said Betsy Johnson, youth services department head.
Established in 1943 as a single library in downtownHenderson, Henderson Libraries now operates six locations throughoutHenderson. Henderson Libraries cooperates with other public libraries in Southern Nevada, the Nevada System of Higher Education, theClarkCountySchool Districtand around the state to provide quality service forNevada’s residents.
For more information on Henderson Libraries and its many services and resources, visit www.mypubliclibrary.com or call 702-492-6580.