Hubbard Memorial Library recognized for its youth programing

LUDLOW — Hubbard Memorial Library was recognized by MiraVista Behavioral Health Center on Feb. 22 for the inviting space and inclusive programming it provides to young people. Kimberley Lee, chief of creative strategy and development for MiraVista Behavioral Health Center presented the You-Have-Our adMIRAtion Award to Youth Services Director July Siebecker.

Lee explained that she passes the library on her commute to and from work and was enchanted by the sign out front that called out activities and social groups for young people, such as clubs based around the game Minecraft and manga. The sign showed that the library was “full of life,” she said.

“Hubbard Memorial Library serves as a sanctuary for mental health and stress,” Lee said, adding that it is a “calm refuge” from the world. “What a sense of community you’re building for young people,” Lee said to Hubbard Memorial Library Board of Trustees Chair Linda Collette.

Siebecker spoke about the award and how much it meant that the recognition came from those in the community, referring to MiraVista.

A Ludlow High School junior said she began volunteering at the library before entering sixth grade and has visited the institution her whole life. The library is “a welcoming environment” where “kids can be who they are,” she said.

State Sen. Jake Oliviera [D-Ludlow] and state Rep. Aaron Saunders [D-Belchertown], both Ludlow natives, spoke about their memories of the library.

Oliviera pointed out the window to a nearby house in which his aunt lived and said he would walk to the library as a child. Saunders told those who had assembled that some of his earliest memories were of story time in the same room where they were now gathered.

Oliviera said the care put into the architecture of the 1888 building showed the value people place in their libraries as community resources. Libraries allow young people to “see the world beyond their small town.”

The library is the “type of place young people battling mental health issues need,” Saunders said.

MiraVista recently reopened its adolescent health unit, providing in-patient mental health care services to those between 13 and 17 years old.