On a stretch of the North Shore Esplanade where walkers pause for fresh air and ferry views, Veronica “Ronnie” Gambon hopes they also stop to pick up a book.
Gambon, a West Brighton resident, helps stock and maintain a Little Free Library along the waterfront, inviting passersby to take a book, leave a book or simply browse. For her, the small wooden box offers something bigger than reading material.
What You Need To Know
A Staten Island resident is stocking Little Free Libraries along the North Shore Esplanade to encourage reading and community connection
Veronica “Ronnie” Gambon has spent more than a decade caring for dozens of Little Free Libraries across the borough
She also organizes community events, cleanups, voter registration efforts and advocacy for better lighting and resources in the area
“It’s really very fun for people that walk by and see books in a little free library that they can take, that they can leave,” Gambon said.
Books, she added, have a way of transporting readers far beyond their surroundings.
“You’re sitting at home in the chair and reading, and the next thing you know, you’re really transported to traveling in an unknown land,” she said.
Gambon comes from a family that values literature and spent her professional career working in operations in publishing and news.
She now applies those skills to community work, tending to dozens of Little Free Libraries across Staten Island for more than a decade, including three of her favorite spots along the North Shore.
“I take my transferable skills that I’ve had, you know, my entire professional career, which has been amazing, and bring them here where there’s opportunity,” she said.
The effort is part of a broader mission to breathe new life into an area she believes is often overlooked.
Along with a group of volunteers, Gambon has helped organize chess tournaments and Veterans Day commemorations on the Esplanade, coordinated neighborhood cleanups and launched an initiative to bring resources and improved lighting to a nearby commercial corridor.
She has also volunteered her time registering voters.
“I feel that if you have the power, the talent, the skills, the connections to make a positive impact in the world — not just on your block, not just in your household, not just in your community, but a larger space — then do it,” Gambon said. “Why not?”
For helping her community turn a new page, Veronica “Ronnie” Gambon is our New Yorker of the Week.