Cleveland Asian Festival creates ongoing Free Library

Since inception ten years ago, the Cleveland Asian Festival (CAF) has had more of an impact than just the two days of the event. The financial and community benefits of the Cleveland Asian Festival continue throughout the year.

Another benefit to AsiaTown has emerged from the 2019 event. CAF volunteers know the importance of reading to success in school and in life. Their research showed that two-thirds of low-income families don’t own a single children’s book. The Child Poverty Rate in St. Clair Superior (home of AsiaTown) is 57% while the City’s rate is 46%.

The CAF Activities Committee suggested a free book giveaway at the Festival. Volunteers Mike and Oanh Powell spearheaded the effort to create an Asian architecture design for the library box.

The free library proved to be so popular that CAF Volunteers made plans to continue the Free Library after the Festival. Asia Plaza is allowing it to stay on their property and provided a space to keep additional books to stock the Free Library.

Volunteer Siu Yan Scott worked with the Cleveland’s Kids Book Bank populate the free library with about 25 books in different languages. Scott said. “CAF Volunteers were inspired to care for the Free Library after the Festival so that the Free Library continues to live.”

She credits the Cleveland’s Kids Book Bank as “a great example of how to reduce, reuse and rethink our environment – books are donated – diverted from landfill and go back out to the community where it’s needed the most to promote literacy through the community.”

Oanh Powell sees it as an ongoing commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Cleveland Asian Festival. She said, “Thanks to the Cleveland Book Bank, we have quite a few books to seed the inventory.”