PITTSFIELD — Nursing home and assisted living facility residents in Pike County now have access to local history materials through the efforts of the Rotary Club of Pike County.
Club President Sheila Davidsmeyer helped with a committee that created “mini-libraries” designed to connect seniors with local history accounts familiar to their own family stories.
“We wanted to participate in the celebration of our county’s 200th anniversary this year,” Davidsmeyer said. “We wanted to assist our local long-term care facilities in providing engaging materials for residents who have been socially isolated due to COVID-19 restrictions.”
The club supplemented a $2,500 grant received from Rotary District 6460 and began assembling a variety of history materials related to Pike County.
In addition to traditional books published by the Pike County Historical Society, Looking for Lincoln in Pike County, Nancy Ross Chapter DAR and the New Philadelphia Association, the club wanted to include personal slices of history and commentary as recounted by local authors.
One of those books was “Your Food — My Adventure” by club member Philip Bradshaw. Other authors in the collection include Linda Pearson, Kham Kurfman, Ken Bradbury, Bill Beard, Carol McCartney and Kenneth Higgins.
Project chairman Julia Boren said the grant allowed the club to move beyond local works and include items related to Pike County’s Abraham Lincoln heritage.
“We were able to purchase many activity-oriented books related to Lincoln and his presidency,” Boren said. “Crossword puzzles and word search books have been requested by our long-term care facilities to help keep residents engaged.”
Facilities receiving the history collections from Rotary Club of Pike County are Liberty Village, Hawthorne Inn, Eastside Health and Rehabilitation, Barry Community Care Center and Griggsville Estates. Each collection is valued at $550.
Billye Titus, Liberty Village administrator, said residents of her facility will enjoy the new reading material.
“I think they will be excited to see things related to where they grew up,” she said.
