Home Visits Build Relationships Through Books

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Susan Herzog has always loved books, but illness keeps her homebound and away from her local library in Uptown. Thanks to Jennifer Samaha, a volunteer for Hennepin County’s at-home service, Susan continues to check out and read countless library books each year.

Jennifer has personally delivered library books to Susan for about five years.

Susan didn’t know about Hennepin County’s at-home service until a friend who worked at a library in Seattle came to visit and realized how illness kept her homebound. Susan’s friend told her about the program. She called the library “immediately.”

“If I don’t have a certain number of books around, I get very nervous because then I start pacing,” Susan told Patch. “I’m not much of a television person.”

After she retired, Jennifer, whose career involved working with people with physical and other disabilities, knew she wanted to volunteer in some way.

“I thought, hmm, what can I do in the community that will keep me active and be interesting,” she said. “Not just a seat on a board.” The personal visits and “human contact” involved in the at-home service interested Jennifer most, so she signed up.

Through the visits, Jennifer said the patron and volunteer can build trust and a relationship. The patron is often cut off from their community, and letting a stranger into their home can be difficult. “But once a relationship gets established, then I have found individuals will often will try new kinds of materials or try subject areas that they might not have read in before,” Jennifer said.

“Finding out that there’s a wonderful array of craft books and cooking books can be extremely useful for persons who have limited resources and don’t have ways to go out and get ideas in the community,” she added. “That’s very satisfying for the volunteer.”

“My belief is you support the community by making sure that folks can get to those materials, whatever [their interests] may be.”

Through her volunteer work, Jennifer has met people like Susan who have diverse interests and “extensive ideas” of what to check out from the library. Jennifer has a haul of loose leaf papers from Susan with long, hand-written lists of books to check out.

“I always max out” [the library checkout limit], Susan said.

Because they share a love of books, Susan and Jennifer often discuss what they're reading and swap recommendations during at-home visits.

“We do share a lot of books because if I find a book I really love, then I’m passionate about that book and I’m practically out on the street telling everyone about it,” Susan said. Jennifer said she’s checked out books after returning them to the library for Susan.

An at-home patron isn’t limited by the county’s book selection. The interlibrary loan system gives anyone the ability to check out books from across the country.

“It’s like a dream,” Susan said. “You can get books from obscure little libraries in different states.”

“There’s yearbooks. You can look up what your best friend looked like in their junior year in high school,” Jennifer said, laughing.

Volunteering for Hennepin County’s at-home service does have its challenges. “You need a car or strong arms if you’re taking public transportation,” Jennifer said. In the winter, getting over the snowbanks that block sidewalks can be difficult.

For Jennifer, though, trudging through snow is worth it because she knows the important role books can play in people's lives.

William Bornhoft is Patch's Minnesota editor. Reach him at William.Bornhoft@Patch.com

Photo by William Bornhoft/Patch.com