GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids woman is upset after she said someone took advantage of her Little Free Library. The library is meant to offer free books to the community and in return you leave a book for someone else.
"It was pretty disappointing seeing people take advantage of the situation," said Alexis Emelander, Grand Rapids resident and little library owner.
On Sunday, Emelander said someone took five to ten books from the library outside her home.
"A group of individuals, about 30 minutes before we came home, stopped and took over half of the books in our free little library," said Emelander.
She said it happened Sunday afternoon around 3 pm on the Northeast side.
"It was enough to wipe out about half of the books in our library. There has been an increase in individuals that are reselling the books. So there that could possibly be a reason," said Emelander.
She said this isn't the first time this has happened to her library.
"This is the second time it's happened, but from what I've seen and discussed with other people in the community, this happened to them multiple times as well. It's just unfortunate that people took advantage of the situation instead of really sticking to the theme of taking a book and leaving a book," said Emelander.
The purpose of the library is to help increase the literacy rate across the neighborhood. She said despite what happened, she's hopeful the library will continue to flourish and help residents in the community.
"I just hope that maybe they think twice before doing that again to myself or someone else because again the purpose of the purpose of the project is to really bring the community together," said Emelander.