Reading and Riding Converge on LIRR at New Hyde Park

The ‘take a penny, leave a penny’ coin trays are a ubiquitous sight at gas stations and convenience stores across the country. Katina Grigoraskos and Carmen Perrone hope that their idea can be just as accepted across LIRR stations across Long Island, but first they have to start in New Hyde Park.

The two village residents have joined forces with the Long Island Rail Road, taking Perrone’s daughter’s old bookcase and turning it into the “New Hyde Park Community Bookshelf,” allowing commuters to ‘take a book and leave a book’ on their ways back and forth riding the rails.

“Maybe it can spread to other train stations, that’s what we’re hoping to do also,” Grigoraskos said during a meeting of the village board on April 16 at the village hall. “They have a lot of community bookshelves out west.”

The duo worked with the manager of the LIRR station house at New Hyde Park and also accepted donations from both the Hillside Public Library and private residents to help stock the small shelves. They currently have about 20 paperback and hardcover books, but are seeking more, especially children’s books. The book case is open as long as the station house is able to be accessed.

“I went to the station one morning and I saw where the schedules were were moved to the counter, New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro, a commuter, said. “And I saw this children’s book case that was there and it said ‘New Hyde Park Community Book Shelf.’ I thought it was a great addition to the station; those are the elements that make a building personal. Those types of community elements really make a big difference.”

Grigoraskos said that they are looking to work with woodworking clubs in schools which could build shelves and donate them to different train stations.

“We’d just love to see it spread to more stations and just see that it’s actually working, that people are not just taking books and not putting them back,” she said.

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