Local lady and local business giving back to community

By Casey Collier
Tammy Carlton made a connection. She thought about the universality of necessary grocery store visits and the deficit she considered in the availability of books in the Franklin community, and she made a connection.
She is the grocery manager at Franklin Supermarket on Main Street, and it occurred to her that she had an opportunity to provide free books to the supermarket shopping community.
The books are all donated, and the Franklin Supermarket Book Project has been going on for about a month so far.
One may take as many and leave as many books as they like.
There is variety on those several shelves, ranging from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dr. Suess, and once a book has been finished, it can be kept or returned.
Carlton said of the reasoning behind the project, “A lot of people on this end of town don’t have rides, and they’re not going to let their children walk as far as the library. But, when you go grocery shopping, you take your children with you. So, this way the kids now have access to books.”
The book shelves are located at the back of the store, near the bottled water. Carlton said while the adults are shopping, the kids can go and pick out their books.
The shelves are labeled and donations are welcome. The books are free of charge and the selection is designed to rotate and change.
Carlton isn’t sure how many books have gone through the project since its inception, but she guestimates the number to be around 600 or 700.
“To me, knowledge is power,” she said. “I push education. I have grandchildren and I’ve got one that will devour a book.
“We had algebra, calculus, trigonometry books, accounting books, and those went, and I said, ‘Yes! It’s working!’
“You have to have education to get anywhere in this world, and that’s what I want these kids to understand.
“We have history books and books about other countries. Get an education, get yourself a job, and go see these places!”
The St. Mary Parish West End Branch donated six boxes of books on Monday, and several more boxes Wednesday.
Carlton said that instead of movie star heroes, she now has books on the shelf at the supermarket about real-life heroes.
She invites all who care to read a new book, or wish to unload some of their old books, to make their way to Franklin Supermarket.
“I talked to my bosses and I said, ‘Can we try this? It’ll be a way of giving back to the community, and it’s free,’ and they agreed it was a good idea,” said Carlton.
“I like to read, and the community really needs access to books.
“I want our community to be really great. It was that way when I was growing up, and I want it to be that way again.”