ALEXANDRIA, VA — It’s not uncommon to see people gathering in front of Kitty Ray’s home in Alexandria on a daily basis. No, it’s not always her grandchildren visiting. It’s her neighbors.

Ray opened a Little Free Library called Kitty’s Book Nook earlier this year, and it quickly became a gathering spot for the Seminary Valley neighborhood. Her library at 3705 Fort Worth Avenue is listed on the official Little Free Library website.

She was inspired to start the little library after seeing one by the poetry fence in Del Ray. To her delight, her husband decided to install the little library along with a reading bench bearing Kitty’s and their grandchildren’s names as a Christmas gift. Since the library opened in January, she regularly restocks the entire collection with everything from classics to young adult and children’s books.

While the library serves a community purpose, it also helps Ray cope with her personal health struggle. She’s been fighting breast cancer for 27 years, and it’s advanced to stage 4.

“It’s nice to have other things in my life: my family, my friends, my books,” she told Patch. “When you have cancer for 27 years, you take nothing for granted.”

She often gets more book donations from neighbors that she puts in the library. She plans to decorate the library display for Easter and other holidays, and her daughter is painting a portrait of her grandchildren to hang up. On top of that, Ray has homemade bookmarks and a guest book for visitors to sign.

There’s good reason she receives daily kind messages in the guest book. In fact, the first book she gave away had an undeniable impact; a visitor from Germany got to read “Night” by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel for the first time.

Ray enjoys going above and beyond for her library visitors. For a book lover losing her eyesight, Ray will stock the library with audiobooks.

“I keep thinking of ways I can serve the community,” she said. “It’s not much, but it’s fun for me.”

Despite uncertainty with her cancer treatment, she feels blessed to still be here and have her little library. Even as the cancer begins to cause pain in her spine, that won’t stop her from carrying books down to Kitty’s Book Nook.

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