Firefighters Donate $3,000 to Palm Harbor Library

Kids who use the Palm Harbor Library now have access to a fun new program thanks to a $3,000 donation from the Palm Harbor and Oldsmar Fire Departments.

The donation will help fund the library's S.T.E.A.M. kits, which are kits that contain books, DVDs and hands-on-activities to help kids learn more about science, technology, engineering, the arts and math.

"American students lag far behind their international peers in science technology engineering and math," said Palm Harbor Library Assistant Director Lois Eannel at the unveiling of the new program on Monday, July 15.

S.T.E.A.M. has been more than a year in the making. The library tried to get grants for it last spring, but couldn't, so they put the program on the back burner.

"Simply by word of mouth, several individuals in the community came forth with sizable donations so that we could start this collection," said Eannel.

Pat Walsh, Jay Martin, Jim Watt and Sharon Pikulinski came forward with donations as did the ExxonMobil Foundation. Then, at Monday morning's unveiling of the new program, representatives from Palm Harbor and Oldsmar fire departments presented the library with a $3,000 check on behalf of the North Pinellas Firefighters Charities. The firefighters raised the money at a golf tournament last spring.

"The money that we raised, we wanted to make sure it stays in Palm Harbor," said Rodney Malpass, a paramedic with Palm Harbor Fire Rescue.

The program was the brainchild of Lois Eannel. Palm Harbor Library Assistant Mary O'Neill helped put the kits together, one of which features a hair-raising Van de Graaff generator. The electrostatic generator is in the "Electricity" S.T.E.A.M. kit and uses a moving belt to create static electricity that can make a person's hair stand on end when one hand is placed on the generator. (Editor's Note: Watch for a video demonstration soon from Palm Harbor Patch. The weather was too humid for the generator experiment to work on Monday)

The following 10 S.T.E.A.M. kits are available in the Youth Services section of the library-

• 2-D Art (ages 7 and up)

• 3-D Art (Ages 8 and up)

• Architecture (Ages 9 and up)

• Colors (Ages 7 and Up)

• Ecology (Ages 9 and up)

• Electricity (Ages 11 and up)

• Geometry (Ages 7 and up)

• Microscopic Life (Ages 11 and up)

• Numbers (Ages 7 and up)

• Shapes and Patterns (Ages 7 and up)

For more information or to check on the availability of the kits, contact the Palm Harbor Library's Youth Services Department 727-784-3332, Ext. 3018.

• Subscribe to the Palm Harbor Patch newsletter to have local news delivered to your email each day. Sign up here.