Library Support for a Community in Grief

On Friday, May 19th of this year, 36-year-old Terrance Miles was murdered at 12:15 AM outside his home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as he took trash to the dumpster. Miles was an assistant football coach at Northside High School, a basketball and football coach with Metro Youth Sports, an administrator at Forest Park Elementary School, a mentor with the Boys & Girls Club, and the father of two.  His was the 11^th homicide in Allen County in 2017.

The Tecumseh Branch of the Allen County Public Library, located between Forest Park Elementary and Northside High School, serves as a community hub where students wait for parents to pick them up after work.  That Friday after school, students entered in small, distraught clusters.  They’d just received a letter informing families of his death.

When a student asked us to display a photo of Miles on the reference desk, it snapped into focus. Students had suddenly lost someone important, felt safe sharing a difficult topic with us, and needed to process it.

By Monday, we had placed a framed photograph of Mr. Miles on the reference desk and a ‘Remembering Mr. Miles’ memorial in the entryway of the building. It included paper butterfly shapes with room to write a message to or about Miles and hang on branches.  Customers could paint a heart to take home or add to the memorial. Children began to add photographs of Mr. Miles because they needed to see his face.  We made a pop-up display of materials and local resources about grieving.

Four days remained before school ended, leaving school staff little time to debrief before children would cope on their own at home.  School counselors and local resource Erin’s House for Grieving Children leapt into action in schools.  Meanwhile, the Tecumseh Branch collaborated with the elementary school, Erin’s House, and Pets Assisting with Well-Being & Success (PAWS) to arrange for library programming.  Grief educators and therapy dogs trained to assist grieving people bridged the gap between school’s end and the summer vacation. Erin’s House also shared best practices with staff for communicating with grieving youth.

A photo of Mr. Miles on the reference desk invited customers to share memories of their deceased friend or family member. The butterfly tree filled with messages from family, friends, and parents, but most messages are from students.  Some were heartbreaking, but all showed love for Miles and appreciation for the magnitude of his impact on our youth. Months later the neighborhood is still pausing to read and write about Terrance Miles and the indelible mark he left on the community he loved.  His family members visit the memorial and would like it when it’s taken down.

Our service to our customers has been impacted— has been lifted—  by a man our staff never met.  Working in tandem with the school and with local service agencies has brought us together as a staff and as a neighborhood.  Mr. Terrance Miles continues his legacy as we continue to learn and grow as a community that honors and serves our youth.

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Today’s guest blog post was written by Jen McKinney and Deb Noggle. Jen is the Assistant Manager and Children’s Librarian of the Tecumseh Branch of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Deb is the Manager of the same library branch.

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at alscblog@gmail.com.