Volunteers showed up to paint Cranston's Oaklawn library

Neighbors, a Rotary club, scouts, and teen volunteers started a new coat of paint on the historic Oaklawn branch after the library said funding was scarce.

Verified · Source: Cranston OnlineOct 7, 2026 · 1 min read

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Paintbrushes standing upright in a glass jar — Illustrative photo of paintbrushes in a jar. This is not the Oaklawn library project. Joshua Niedermayer / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0

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Cranston Online reported on October 7, 2026, that volunteers spent Saturday painting the Oaklawn branch of the Cranston Public Library, a one-story building on Wilbur Avenue in the city’s Oak Lawn Village. Library director Ed Garcia said the branch had needed the work for a long time and that funding was scarce. The Cranston Rotary, Cranston Cares, Scouting for America Troop 66, and the library’s teen volunteers helped round people up. Garcia said the crew made more progress than he expected and was on track to finish the following weekend. The main part of the building began in 1838 as a schoolhouse, moved to its current site in 1896, and reopened then as the Oak Lawn Free Library. Locally owned Durfee’s Hardware discounted the paint.