On the sidewalk across from Leftwich Park, ducks and neighbors gathered to admire the brightly colored rocks at the Rock Library, a free library that encouraged neighbors to take, leave and enjoy rocks.
Erin Irwin operates the Lubbock-based nonprofit The Daisy Project, which helps provide pet food and other care items for those who need them. She started up the Rock Library about a year ago.
"It's a community thing,” said Irwin.“I'm all about, you know that the togetherness in the community, it's a free thing, which the world is expensive right now, so it's something free for kids, and then even if they're here for five minutes, it's just something fun to do.”
Irwin went on to say that the library also teaches kids to appreciate rocks in a different way than the lesson they are taught in school.
“You're taught about your basic sedimentary and igneous and all of that, but you're not taught about the actual beauty, so having kids get excited about nature, that's super cool."
The Rock Library, and other free neighborhood library initiatives like it, offer a space for neighbors to connect in a time where neighborhoods felt increasingly disconnected.
A study conducted by Social Connection in America found that 27% of participants would describe their neighborhood as close knit. 63% reported never taking action with their neighbors.
"I just missed seeing kids get excited about the rocks, and not just the plain brown rocks that you see here, but the really cool rocks, the rocks that have that are shiny, and the rocks that have the layers that you know that took millions of years to form, and what rock came from a volcano? What rock you know came from fossils, or where fossils formed, or anything like that? Just learning that there's more to just what you're learning in school, and actually seeing the rocks in a really cool setting," said Irwin.
Irwin stressed the importance of both kids and adults taking time to connect with the world around them.
"We don't have a lot of rock hunting here, so it just gives them an opportunity to see more and see and see all the pretty rocks,” Irwin explained. “It's just fun seeing them get excited about them. I missed doing that, and that's why we put this up here."
To visit the Rock Library, you can go to the 6200 block of Geneva Avenue in Lubbock.