Target adds color to Asbell library

Volunteer Daisy Nelson paints some arches Friday in the library at Asbell Elementary School in Fayetteville. Nelson joined dozens of other Target employees at the school to give the library a $3,000 makeover.
Volunteer Daisy Nelson paints some arches Friday in the library at Asbell Elementary School in Fayetteville. Nelson joined dozens of other Target employees at the school to give the library a $3,000 makeover.

— Employees from the Fayetteville Target store and other Target stores gathered Friday morning at Asbell Elementary School to give the library a paint job and a makeover.

The white walls around the room have been painted in different sections with shades of blue, green, yellow and tan.

"When we add the color, it's going to warm it up and make it more inviting," librarian Janette Harris said. "It wasn't that bad before, but it's a lot more colorful now."

Also, as part of the makeover the library got four children's-size leather chairs and some new furniture from Target. They also purchased some new couches from Furniture Factory Outlet, Harris said.

Students were able to use the new furniture Monday following the re-opening of the library.

"All the kids are real psyched about the furniture," she said.

Becky Sadler, human resources manager at the Fayetteville Target, said the Target corporate offices set aside Friday as a time to improve school libraries across the country.

They began looking for a school library to make over about five months ago and were told by a central office administrator that Asbell or Leverett elementary schools would be good options, she said. Target eventually settled on Asbell.

In addition to volunteering to paint the room, the company donated $1,000 to be used to purchase new reading materials, Harris said.

Prior to the arrival of the Target employees, the maintenance department built some new wooden archways to separate different sections of the library. They were in place and painted by the Target volunteers.

To prepare for the makeover, library assistant Bree Sellers had to temporarily pack up books on the shelves in the back of the room, all the while keeping the facility open for student use. Sellers said it took about a week to remove all the books off the shelves.

"We could not cancel any activity in the room except for [on Friday]," Harris said.

Academics, Pages 6 on 09/22/2009

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