Youth Leaders Bring Diverse Literature To White Hall

Whitehall, Md. – The We Cancerve Movement, Inc., a Bel Air, Md. based-nonprofit that brings happiness to homeless, sick and foster children, opened its second little library in Harford County to encourage youth to read literature about diverse populations.

The little library is located in Whitehall at Daily Chaos Farm, a first-generation family farm situated on 10 acres along the Barn Quilt Trail. Families and other groups can schedule private farm tours, and participate in various other hands-on children’s activities.

“We are ecstatic to have the We Cancerve Little Library at our farm. Our hope for the library is to encourage those children who visit our farm to grab a book and expand their literacy knowledge,” said Missy Vanarsdale, owner. “Words can’t express how thankful we are to We Cancerve Movement for this amazing opportunity for those children in our community.”

The We Cancerve Little Library was built by Theodore Rose, 16, a member of the We Cancerve Board of Advisors, and his father Rick. The structure, which can hold about 50 picture and chapter books suitable for elementary through high school students, will be restocked quarterly.

After volunteering for about a year, Rose said he joined We Cancerve’s leadership team in Fall 2020 because he saw it as a way to further help the community.

“It's inspiring knowing that I'm working with some of the most talented people I know to help make the community a better place,” said Rose, who credits his role as a Boy Scout to his leadership in We Cancerve. “It just makes me feel good knowing that some kid will get to know the wonders of reading just like I had when I was younger, all because I helped with We Cancerve.”

We Cancerve opened its first little library in Edgewood’s Windsor Valley community in April. Children in that community are zoned to Magnolia Elementary School. Rose and his father built that one, too.

“I love reading and my favorite thing about reading is the new knowledge I get about the world from reading books,” said Rose, who’s a rising junior at Edgewood High School’s Global Studies International Baccalaureate program.

He said he hopes youth “get both entertained and get inspired while reading the books inside the We Cancerve Little Library.”

Mary Hastler, Harford County Public Library chief executive officer, pledged her organization’s support to the initiative.

“The Harford County Public Library is honored to be supporting the We Cancerve Little Libraries and bringing together the community in support of diversity and inclusion through literacy. It is what makes Harford County such an amazing place to live, work and play,” said Hastler.

The project received seed funding from a grant We Cancerve Founder Grace Callwood won in November as a We Are Family Foundation’s (WAFF) Youth to the Front Fund (YTTFF) “Frontliner.”

WAFF, founded more than a decade ago by legendary musician Nile Rodgers, focuses on bringing people together from different ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds, and in supporting youth leaders from around the world whose activism advocates for basic human needs such as food, water and shelter. In 2020, the foundation created YTTFF to support and fund projects and initiatives created by youth under 30 who are at the forefront of fighting systemic racism, inequality, inequity and injustice in the United States and around the world.

Callwood is among the first cohort of 20 youth – ranging from ages 13 to 28 – from around the globe recognized by the foundation for work addressing racial and systemic injustice.

In 2019, We Cancerve opened indoor children’s libraries at the St. Agnes Pediatric Emergency Room in Baltimore; Department of Social Services Visitation Center in Bel Air; and Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School’s Community Resource Center in Aberdeen. These libraries are made possible with support the Friends of the Havre de Grace Branch of the Harford County Public Library.

Callwood and Carly Baker, another member of the nonprofit's youth board, are working with the service learning club at Garrison Forest School to open their next little library this summer in Owings Mills.

For more information on We Cancerve, visit: www.wecancerve.org.