Greenfield resident Marjorie Reid has a friend with an unique way of evaluating communities.
“He says when he comes into a new town, he checks out the library,” the 90-year-old woman said. “That’s how he sizes up the town. … I thought that was an interesting benchmark.”
When asked what her friend thought of the Greenfield Public Library, Reid replied, “He was impressed.”
Reid herself has long been impressed by that library — first as a patron, later as a volunteer, and now as a recipient of materials though the library’s Homebound Delivery Program. The program pairs people who have trouble leaving their home with volunteers who bring them books, CDs, videos and cheer.
Marjorie Curtis, who runs the library’s borrower services department, calls herself “the kind of hands-off coordinator” of the Homebound Delivery Program. Curtis matches volunteers with patrons who ask to receive books. She also keeps her eyes and ears open for people who could use the service.
Most of the Homebound coordination is done by two longtime library volunteers, Peggy Brown and Sarah Hinckley. It was founded by another volunteer, Martha Greene, who initiated Homebound in the late 1980s and ran the program for 25 years.
“I was working with (the late) Mike Franceschi, who was the director of the library,” Greene recalled. “We both thought that it was important to bring the library to people who were at home.”
Greene said she and Franceschi received a lot of interest in their budding program from people at home, and developed a large list of volunteers willing to deliver the books to the community’s benefit.
“What it’s really done is bring the library to people who are at home interested in everything the library offers. It’s not just books. It’s CDs, books on tape, all sorts of things,” Greene said. “What it does is make friendships between people in the community and people at home. It’s not only a library benefit; it’s a benefit to the community because it brings us together.
“People who receive literature from the library are more alive than they would be without it,” she asserted.
When Greene retired about four years ago, Susan Harmon took over Homebound. A couple of months ago, Harmon passed the torch to Brown and Hinckley.
Brown explained exactly how the program works.
“If a patron is a resident of Greenfield, they’re invited to fill out a brief application for the services. Then after they fill out the application, I reach out to them and visit and make sure that they will be needing the services, either temporarily for a longer span,” she said. “We coordinate and set them up with a volunteer, and (that person) will deliver. Sometimes it’s weekly and sometimes it’s monthly. It depends on the individual.”
She added that from time to time, the volunteers and homebound patrons find each other without library intervention.
“Sometimes it’s just personal relationships, connections,” Brown said. “You have a neighbor, and you know she can’t get out.”
As of October, the program has 28 volunteers who serve 24 patrons, she said. New requests come in frequently.
One of Brown and Hinckley’s stalwart volunteers is the woman who visits Marjorie Reid, Diana Roberts. Roberts started working as a volunteer at the library about 15 years ago and was introduced to the Homebound Delivery Program by friends who volunteered.
She has brought materials to four different patrons over the years, and currently works with two — Reid and Alberta Allen.
Asking Roberts how long she has volunteered with Reid showed that giving is not a one-way street.
“Marjorie has given me amaryllises for Christmas,” Roberts noted. “I have four of them.”
She added that she had admired a quilt Reid had created and displayed at the Franklin County Fair.
“She gave it to me for Christmas!” Roberts marveled. “So … five years. One quilt and four amaryllises. That’s how I keep track of my time with Marjorie.”
Roberts has felt a kinship with all of the library patrons she has visited for the Homebound Delivery Program.
“(The late) Connie Corsiglia would give me tea and cookies, and we would talk about the books. We would kind of segue into talking about other things. I would meet most of her family,” she began.
In addition to delivering books, Roberts occasionally brings Allen to doctors’ appointments and picks up groceries for Allen and Reid.
“They both have kids in the area,” Roberts clarified. “I’m sure they’re not wanting for anything, but it’s a nicety.”
According to Roberts, the book selection process varies. She brings her Homebound patrons the library’s printed lists of new books, which also describe publications in large print and audio. If the patrons are adept with computers, they consult Wowbrary, an online newsletter available through the library’s website.
They occasionally see reviews of books in other sources and draw them to her attention. Often, Roberts just surveys the library shelves to identify possible books for her patrons. She knows their reading preferences.
She brings Allen and Reid selections once or twice a week, and they decide which items they want to keep.
“It’s a real pleasure to be part of this program,” Roberts concluded. “It works beautifully both ways to be a rewarding connection.”
Allen and Reid agreed that the Homebound Delivery Program has become important in their lives.
“When I was mobile, when I was able to do other things, there were a lot of things in my life that I did,” Allen said. “I can’t even knit; I used to love to knit. I had planned to do quilting, but the arthritis thought otherwise.
“(Being confined) narrows down what you can do. I was always a reader, but I’m reading more than I ever did.”
Allen said that after Roberts was referred to her, the two discovered that they were neighbors.
“She’s a very, very nice person. I appreciate her a lot,” Allen said of her volunteer and friend.
As for Reid, she has been a bibliophile since she was small.
“My mother read to me,” she said. “She was a teacher, and of course she had a love of books,” she said.
As a young mother, Reid shared her affection for literature with her children via the library’s Bookmobile.
“It was like a big van,” she recalled. “It was lined with shelves full of books. There was a wonderful librarian named Agnes Waite. She always had a suggestion for a book that you might like.”
When her children grew up and she found herself with time on her hands, Reid began volunteering at the library. She shelved books and telephoned patrons to tell them that requested books had arrived.
Reid and her late husband were among the earliest volunteers in the Homebound Delivery Program.
“He was a good driver. We did that until he died,” she noted. “And now I am visually impaired, and I get books from the Homebound program. … Mostly I get audio books because I can knit or quilt while I do that. I also get large-print books.”
Reid treasures her friendship with Roberts and also her longtime relationship with the library.
“The library reaches everyone,” she enthused. “Children and elderly people. And the homeless; the homeless love to go in there and spend the day with a good book. And people who don’t have computers.
“I never went into the library without meeting a friend. We’ve been fortunate that we have outstanding librarians.”
In addition to having a fundamental affection for books, Reid said librarians enjoy working with people.
“They’re wonderful about matching people to the books they might like. And reaching out to people,” she said. “So it’s not just about books.”
Reid’s statement largely sums up the Homebound Delivery Program, an innovative service that creates and sustains community through books, but more importantly, through human contact.
For more information about the Homebound Delivery Program, visit greenfieldpubliclibrary.org/volunteering or call the Greenfield Public Library at 413-772-1544.
Tinky Weisblat is the author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.