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On Wednesday, March 19, members of the Shelby County Children’s Policy Council and Judge Erin Welborn were joined by the students who drew the illustrations during a celebratory. ribbon cutting ceremony. (Reporter photos/Noah Wortham)

By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – In the midst of the grey hallways of the Shelby County Courthouse now stands a bright and colorful Bookworm Vending Machine adorned in vibrant illustrations from Shelby County Schools students.

On Wednesday, March 19, members of the Shelby County Children’s Policy Council and Judge Erin Welborn were joined by the students who drew the illustrations during a celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony.

“It was everything I wanted it to be,” Welborn said. “This book vending machine brings so much joy to the kids that come to this courthouse—from the teenagers to the little, bitty kids.”

The new book vending machine is located in Shelby County Juvenile Court Services in the Shelby County Courthouse and was made possible by a literacy grant from the Alabama Literacy Council through the Shelby County Children’s Policy Council.

“We wanted to start with a book vending machine to help kids ease the fears that may have, whether they’re coming for a court case that involves them or their parents or something (else),” Welborn said.

Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Shaun Styers said that he hopes the new machine creates a positive experience in the courthouse.

“Nobody is coming to the courthouse because they’ve having a good day,” he said. “And it really is our mission to make sure our attitude and how we treat them doesn’t make it worse. And so, this is one way that we can make it better.”

In addition to being a source of entertainment and a tool to ease the anxieties of young visitors to the courthouse, Welborn shared that they hope the ability for the students to keep the books from the machine will help in building their own home library.

“We just want kids to be reading,” Welborn said. “Less screen time and more book time or outside time.”

Children are able to go to the juvenile office and procure a special token for free and are able to go to the machine and select a book to take home for free.

“Just grab a coin and come get a book, and they don’t have to be here for court. It’s a public building, so they can come in anytime and ask for a book,” Welborn said.

The book vending machine is adorned in drawings of characters from a variety of literary works— such as “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “Hunger Games” and “Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland”—that were all made by students in Shelby County Schools.

“I wanted it to be where it included and was made by the kids of Shelby County for the kids of Shelby County,” Welborn said.

Shelby County Schools students from kindergarten to 12th grade submitted a series of drawings which were then added to the wrap design of the vending machine.

“The company told us they had never designed one like that before,” Welborn said. “So, this is the only one in the country.”

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