PARIS, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — A piggy bank that once called the Paris Carnegie Public Library its home was stolen in March, prompting an unexpected but supportive response from the community.
The piggy bank that sat at the library’s circulation desk was mostly intended as an option for those in the community to donate to the library, place spare change, or voluntarily pay for late fees.
“We are a fine-free library, and some people like to voluntarily pay late fines, other people like to get rid of their change, some people want to express gratitude for the help we gave them,” Ceili Boylan Director of the Paris Carnegie Public Library explained. “This is the first time the pig has been stolen.”
While the pig mostly remained at its post at the library’s circulation desk, it was included in holidays through festive decoration and occasionally included in library programs.
After the news of the pig’s disappearance made its way into the community, Boylan noted receiving a bigger response than initially expected.
“A lot of people have come in and talked about the pig, and we had a kid named Braxton donate money from his own Piggy Bank,” Boylan said. “It’s been really great to see the community come together, and other people have offered us piggy banks.”
While the loss of the pig has impacted the community in some ways, Boylan is hopeful that the pig’s loss can be turned into a net positive for the library.
“It’s unfortunate and we’re all really upset, but I think that this will be good,” Boylan said. “We missed the pig after he was stolen. We didn’t realize how attached we were to the pig until he was gone. Like many library workers, sometimes his work went unnoticed by the community.”
As the library was opened in 1904, the historic building is in need of some renovations. Specifically, library officials are looking to replace the original, custom windows in the building, which Boylan said will take a lot of funding.
“We are looking at fundraising for our windows, and the pig really wasn’t part of this, but I think that the replacement pig will probably be part of that,” Boylan explained. “The funding for the windows is going to be an expensive project and it will have to have a lot of different funding sources. So we are hoping to get it started within the next couple of years because the windows do need help.”
The plans for the next fundraiser for the windows include a new pig for the library, and the PCPL staff wants the community to be involved. Boylan explained that the library board is discussing a fundraiser that will include the local pottery craft story Sheweys.
Boylan said the plan is for local children to design their own piggy banks and to have the community vote for their favorite design by putting a quarter in the bank they want to win. Boylan also noted that a pig-naming event will also likely be held as a community fundraiser in the future.
While the Paris community moves on and makes the best out of their loss, there are still some mixed feelings regarding the original, now missing piggy bank and the crime that occurred.
“The police were able to go and get the person that did it, but the pig has not returned home, so I doubt he ever will,” Boylan said. “The pig did not have a lot of money in it, I’m sure. And we are a government agency, and this thing is probably going to cause him more trouble than he got out of it. So in some ways, I feel bad for him that he felt the need to steal from the library, but we do serve the community and basically, he stole from the entire community, and that’s not acceptable. So I have mixed feelings about it. It should not have been stolen, but we might still be able to turn this into a net good for the library.”
