by Max Gast and the staff of The Tides

You are a little kid waiting for your parents to do their laundry, but all you can do is sit on a bench off to the side thinking about what you’re going to do when you get home. Watching clothes revolving in the large, stainless steel machines, you notice something new in the corner: a colorful rug, a child-sized table, and a bookcase loaded with brand-new books! 

The Laundromat Library at Bradley Bleach is the first such library in Monmouth County at 615 Park Place Avenue. Installed in October with a $5,000 grant obtained by the Bridge of Books Foundation, the Laundromat Library allows books to be taken home by kids. And you don’t need an I.D. or a library card.

“The idea is to expose children to literacy at an early age,” said Ursula Ayers, a former math teacher who owns the laundromat with her husband, Victor Ayers. “Children take books home to keep. We want children to have books to call their own,” 

The books range from early childhood to middle-grade reading levels, and there are even some for adults. This library was set up with help from the nonprofit Bridge of Books Foundation, which obtained a $5,000 grant from The Burlington Foundation for equipment and an ongoing supply of books. 

The laundromat was selected because it is clean and bright with enough space to accommodate a small library, said Abby Daly, executive director of Bridge of Books Foundation, based in Rumson. The grant provided 50 books to start with and 20 new books per month for a year, she said.

“We wanted to be the seed to create a community infrastructure,” Ms. Daly said. “We want books to flow in and out of here.”

The Bridge of Books Foundation has donated thousands of books to BBES over the years that have been given out at literacy nights, book fairs, and summer reading. 

The grand opening of this library happened on December 7, 2023, and was attended by many people including eight of our Tides writers, as well as Superintendent/Principal Michael Heidelberg, Director of Special Services Alison Zylinski, Cynthia Becker from the Bradley Beach Public Library, and Mayor Larry Fox.

Bradley Bleach is working on plans to host BBES class trips and partner with the public library to support literacy programs there, Mrs. Ayers said. 

“We ask everyone to enjoy the space and simply come in and take a book home,” she said. 

“It’s an amazing example of a community partnership,” said Mrs. Zylinski. “We are lucky and grateful to have businesses in town that support our students.”