The family of the late Rev. Dr. Paul A. and Viola T. Bishop will join writer Shelia P. Moses and PETA representatives Saturday as they cut the ribbon on a new Little Free Library.
The library is dedicated to the Bishops and donated by PETA for Moses’ Northampton County Little Free Library Project.
The Bishop family has provided books for it, and PETA has also stocked it with books from its free Barks & Books program, which gives away children’s books with messages of kindness and compassion for animals.
The event will be at 2 p.m. at Rich Square-Creecy Elementary School, located at 210 Roberts Road.
“When children read about animals, they develop both their reading skills and their empathy for others of all kinds,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “It’s PETA’s honor to support the Northampton County Little Free Library Project and the young readers in the area.”
The Northampton County Little Free Library Project was designed to help put books into the hands of every family in the county, with the hope of benefiting children and adults for generations to come.
PETA previously donated a Little Free Library outside Cuz Mini-Mart in Garysburg.
Its other work in Northampton County includes more than 15 years of helping families care for dogs by delivering sturdy wooden dog houses, insulating straw bedding, and nutritious food; providing preventive care such as deworming, flea, and flystrike treatment; and transporting animals to and from spay/neuter surgeries free of charge.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be broadcast on Moses’ Facebook Live page, will honor the Bishops for their work as community leaders, particularly through education.
Among numerous other accomplishments, Dr. Bishop organized the first Black public library with a bookmobile to serve the Northampton County area.
In 1959, the county renamed its Negro Branch Library the PA Bishop, Sr. Library. Although that library has since closed, the Northampton Memorial Library recently renamed its programming room in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Bishop, who taught mathematics at Rich Square Institute and served as its first school librarian after it was renamed the W.S. Creecy School.
