Looking to get crafty and show others what you love about your community this month? Consider participating in the Henry Carter Hull Library’s Community Valentine Project. The free project encourages the community members to help decorate the building’s windows for the month of February with all the things they love about Clinton.

The program is very simple. Interested patrons can stop by the library lobby during the service hours to pick up a pre-cut purple heart. Next, take the heart home and decorate the heart to represent three things you love about the community. After the hearts are decorated, they can be returned to the library where they will be displayed in the windows. The program is free and requires no registration.

Sarah Borgnis–Tobin, the adult programming coordinator for the library, explained that the items listed on the heart can be anything from a person, to a place, to an origination or business—anything the heart maker feels is worth celebrating.

“I think there’s a lot of love and appreciation right now for first responders, or neighbors, or teachers,” Borgnis–Tobin said as an example.

The project is open to community members of all ages but is also a great activity for parents to do with kids, she pointed out.

This is a new project for the library and one that was inspired by a similar project done a few years ago.

“A few years back we did a mural project with puzzle pieces that could be decorated and put on our inside wall and it was fun and went well,” Borgnis-Tobin explained.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the library has been closed since the end of November except for curbside or virtual services.

“Instead, we’ve been coming up with ways to stay connected with the community,” Borgnis-Tobin said.

That brainstorming led to the idea to do the community Valentine project.

“I liked the idea of having a visual. It’s something to cheer up the library. I hope it will inspire people in the community to reflect on the positive things going on,” said Borgnis-Tobin.

In the future, Borgnis-Tobin said the library may consider doing similar projects with different shapes and thought prompts to keep people engaged with the library.

“We want people to know we’re here for them if they have any feedback or questions on how to use our programs and we’re glad to be a part of the community,” said Borgnis-Tobin.

Interested parties can visit hchlibrary.org for current hours and email sarah@hchlibrary.org with any questions.