REPUBLIC, Mo. (KY3) – At the back of Republic’s Community Center on Tuesday a group of people gathered to see the unveiling of the city’s newest library.
There was no building.
Or books.
Just a portable storage unit with plastic totes inside filled with all kinds of different balls and playing equipment.
It is a sports equipment library, the idea of a soon-to-be senior Hayden Hradek, a nose guard on the high school team’s state runner-up football team this past season.
Hradek came up with the sport equipment library because of his experience growing up with his mom in a single-family household.
”She worked at a newspaper and antique store but it was still hard to make ends meet,” Hradek explained. “Growing up I played two sports, football and baseball. But I remember one day my mom and I had to have a chat about how we couldn’t afford both sports anymore. I had to pick one-of-the-two. So now when I was looking at what I wanted to do for my community specifically, it was all about remembering what I went through and applying that to other people having to experience the same thing. Everyone knows the prices at the grocery store are still high so oftentimes something’s got to give and our goal is to make sure that’s not sports because it teaches so many valuable lessons. Sports is a necessity while you’re a child. It’s an investment in our future. We’re teaching kids how to work together and be leaders.”
Hradek’s learned his valuable lessons by taking part in the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, a partnership between the University of Missouri St. Louis and MU’s Extension Service that asks participants to work on community improvement projects to build leadership and organization skills.
“Hayden is very unique in that he’s the first high school student we’ve ever had in the Neighborhood Leadership Academy,” said his teacher David Burton, a Field Specialist in Community Development with MU Extension. “He certainly brought a lot of youthful enthusiasm to the whole group. Class members work all 10 weeks toward developing their own community project. Then they have an option of submitting it to MU Extension for a grant process. We had over half of our class get grant money but this was the biggest at $10,000. I think everybody was just captivated by Hayden’s story about how the lack of sports equipment impacted his own life. He’s very passionate about it.”
The library program does not give away the equipment. It will be checked in-and-out through the community center to coaches and players involved in the city’s youth programs.
Amazon, who has a warehouse facility in Republic, has helped get the project off to a good start by donating $3,000 worth of equipment. And the grant money Hradek has pulled together will help too. But private donations will be the key in keeping the library going.
”We want to make this a pillar of our community so if you have gently-used equipment that you are fine with getting rid of, bring it down to the community center and we’ll take it and give it out to people who need it,” Hradek said. “But half the battle is just getting people to know that it’s here.”
“What I hear from parks is that they’d like to expand this project to the other regional park when it’s built,” Burton added. “There will be soccer fields out there so maybe have the soccer portion of the library out there. But they see this as a big need and a big win for youth participation here in Republic. Who knows? We may have the next major leaguer get to have their start because they got to use donated equipment. I love the possibilities.“
And before he graduates, Hayden still has one more goal he’d like to reach in helping his community.
”I want to build an all-abilities playground here in Republic,” he said. “My sister has a degenerative muscle condition that has the possibility of leaving her in a wheelchair at some point. It’s about being a brother and putting the infrastructure in place that will help my sister in the future.”
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