For those of you in Sylvan Lake with some overdue library books, now is your chance to shave off some of those fines, all by simply bringing a non-perishable food item down to the Municipal Library until May 21st.

This is all part of their Food for Fines campaign, where the non-perishable items will be donated to their Little Free Pantry, which is a shelf set up in the library where people can pick up any items they need, completely free of charge.

Library Director Caroline Vandriel explains how the Little Free Pantry came to be.

"It began, mostly because we would have kids coming into the library, parents not at home, and they would be here for the entire day over the weekend, and not have food with them. They'd go up to desk staff and ask them, 'do you have anything to eat I’m hungry.' And my assistant director was doing a search online for Little Free Libraries to get some design ideas, and she came across the idea of the Little Free Pantry, and she thought this would be a great idea for us."

Vandriel says with the food bank hours limited in Sylvan Lake, only open Wednesday mornings, it can be hard for people to make it there, so those in need are now able to come to the Little Free Pantry.

For every non-perishable food item donated to the library, patrons will get $2 knocked off their fines.

You can of course donate to the Little Free Pantry at any time, simply by going to the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library and dropping the items off at the front desk.