The Meinders Community Library Thursday, March 4 will unveil a new 72-item collection of books, DVDs and magazines dedicated to fitness and healthy living.
The $1,250 collection was donated to the library by the Pipestone Active Living Partnership to provide easy access to information that will help people obtain a better understanding of how to live healthy lives.
“These are resources people can use long-term,” said Janet Timmerman, Active Living coordinator. “This makes them available to everyone.”
Timmerman said the Partnership utilized leftover funds from Blue Cross Blue Shield to purchase items that hopefully will appeal to everyone from children to senior citizens. There’s books on dancing, running, swimming, food and diet, how to handle stress, and even how to throw a barn dance.
“It’s a wonderful collection and it will be wonderful for the population of Pipestone,” said Stephanie Hall, director of the Meinders Community Library.
Along with the books, Timmerman said, the donation includes five DVDs and five magazine subscriptions for the library, including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Fitness.
The library has received donations in the past, Hall said, but they usually take the form of cash rather than whole collections. For the next year the collection will be kept in a special health and fitness section to make people aware the resources are available. After that they will be integrated into the library’s regular sections.
“The goal is to give people new ideas and encourage them to stop being couch potatoes,” Hall said.
The new collection will be available to the public Thursday, March 4 following a presentation by Joseph Amato, author and professor of history and rural regional studies, at 6:30 p.m. in the High School Auditorium, during which he will discuss his journey from a healthy active childhood, to a chronic diagnosis and surgery as an adult, and back to a sense of wellness.
