GHC’s TRIO Donates 133 Books to Little Free Library Project

Posted on: Mar, 7, 2025

Grays Harbor College Logo
The Aberdeen Campus TRIO office decorated with various pink and Dolly Parton themed balloons. JEB Thorton stands next to a Dolly Parton standie, pretending to hold her book open. On the opposite side of the cut out, is a small chalkboard sign that reads "It's hard to be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World".
GHC’s TRIO Student Support Services Director JEB Thornton poses for a photo with a cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton. The United Way of Grays Harbor lent the Dolly cutout to TRIO to help promote the annual book drive.

The TRIO Student Support Services program at Grays Harbor College recently partnered with the United Way of Grays Harbor and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to hold a book drive to benefit the Aberdeen Rotary’s Little Free Library project. 

The book drive kicked off on Dolly Parton’s birthday on January 21. TRIO hosted a series of Dolly Parton-themed celebrations to promote the book drive, which included an array of activities open to all GHC students, like a birthday party for Dolly, Dolly BINGO, “A Cup of Ambition” mocktail hour, and bookmark bedazzling.

By the end of the festivities, TRIO had collected 133 children’s books to donate to the Aberdeen Rotary. The books were used to stock the Rotary’s Little Free Libraries around Aberdeen. This is the second annual book drive that TRIO has held.

According to Ginelle Hanaway, Student Support Specialist in TRIO, this year’s book drive was “an amazing success” that exceeded everyone’s expectations. “We had a huge turnout for our book drive this year. Last year, we received 73 donations of new and gently used children’s books. These went to the Aberdeen Rotary and were used to stock all the Free Little Libraries around town – getting books into the hands of kids!” said Hanaway. “This year, our goal was 100 books and I’m happy to report that, not only did we break last year’s record and reach this year’s goal, but we received a total of 133 books! Thank you to the entire Grays Harbor College community for helping us get books into the hands of kids.”