From The Tribune Democrat
For Kathy Shaffer, opening The Tackle Box was a labor of love.
“I had been thinking about this for 10 to 15 years; my dream has always been to put a library in Hooversville,” the retired North Star School District teacher said. “It has a theme of serving others and I want this to be a true community experience and a place to enjoy.”
The center, at 964 Barn St., also is a way to memorialize her son Tyler, who died in 2008 a month prior to his high school graduation from an aneurysm.
“We set up a fund through the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies two years ago to create The Tackle Box Fund to start this project,” Shaffer said.
“This, to a certain degree, is kind of like Tyler’s inheritance. We wanted to honor him this way and also our two other children, Elliott and Lucy.”
The project dates back to 2014 when Shaffer and her husband, Jeff, purchased the former Riverside building.
A part of the building houses their business, Shaffer’s Bottled Gas Inc., and the other section is The Tackle Box.
“In 2018, I began the planning for The Tackle Box and started to put ideas together,” Shaffer said. “Most of 2019 was construction, and we did a soft opening on May 31 this year. That was Tyler’s birthday, and we set that for ourselves to open up.”
‘To promote learning’
The Tackle Box name is twofold.
“I see a lot of challenges that kids and families face, and I wanted there to be a community place where they could come and tackle issues, like getting homework done, that you might need a little bit of help with,” Shaffer said. “The other part is, Tyler loved fishing and his tackle box was always out, and he was always reorganizing it making sure it was ready to go.
“It all ties in, and I wanted it to be very symbolic honoring him and our community.”
Walking through The Tackle Box, there’s a growing library with books for children and adults that can be read there or checked out, a computer station with four laptops, a children’s playroom chock-full of games and activities, a coffee bar, a kitchen and a treehouse for play and reading.
In addition, there are educational and recreational programming for children as well as art classes.
“I also really want to promote learning,” Shaffer said.
There are plans to offer community events such as family game nights and cooking, canning and wine classes.
The space also is available for rent for small private or community gatherings.
‘Stop in and see it’
Shaffer said there are many people in the community who contributed to the creation of The Tackle Box and she hopes that what she has done honors their investment.
“I want people to stop in and see it, even if it’s just to walk through, they don’t need to come for anything formal,” she said.
Plans are in the works to create membership packages.
Hours are 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday.