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Liam Toledo loves to read. His top recommendation: the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series.
He was a preteen when he recognized the distance between his home in north McAllen and the public library.
“I noticed it took a long time to get there,” the Tres Lagos resident said.
Liam, 13, decided he wanted to give children in his neighborhood easier access to books.
After discussing the idea with his parents, Douglas Toledo and Cindy Miller, Liam said he started categorizing and organizing his 1,000-book home collection. He purchased more.
“I also got donations from neighbors that offered to donate to my cause,” he said.
Finally, one year ago, he launched Liam’s Community Library, a monthly event which meets in a common area of the housing development in north McAllen.
When it was time to advertise, Liam received a sponsorship from the CopyZone store on Bicentennial Boulevard in McAllen to print event announcements.
“Another reason I started the library is because I want to see books in hands instead of phones,” said the eighth grader at South Texas ISD Preparatory Academy, who also takes courses at World Scholars.
Through the course of a year, he’s seen event attendance grow.
“He’s checked out over 1,200 books during the year,” Miller said. “Sometimes he has a lot of people in there.”
Liam, who wants to work for NASA and become an astronaut, spent the year building his collection, visiting local libraries for donations and discounted books, which launched another idea.
“Doing the library showed me the meaning of community service,” he said. “I decided to donate some of the books I had surplus.”
This spring, Liam donated 200 books for juveniles to the Edinburg Police Department and South Texas Health System Children’s.
“I’m going to donate books and bears sometime in October so kids can have something to cuddle with,” he said.
A one-year anniversary party for Liam’s Community Library is set to take place from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. It will include free snacks donated by Starbucks and Chic-Fil-A. During the event, a representative from South Texas Health System will attend to accept another donation of books.
For future library events, he’s planning to expand his catalog and is speaking with a local author to offer a read-along.
“From the library, I learned valuable management skills by managing a group of volunteers, including Girl Scouts,” he said. “It’s a team effort.”
