LEOMINSTER — Leominster residents with overdue library books have the opportunity to turn their fines into food for the less fortunate this holiday season. 

It’s all part of the library’s food for fines program which kicked off this year at the beginning of November. 

“The idea of it is instead of paying off overdue fines in cash or with a check, people can bring in non-perishable items in good condition and each item they bring in takes two dollars off their fine,” said Alexander Lent, the director of the Leominster Public Library. 

The library began the food for fines program in the early 2000s but didn’t run the program for the last few years. Lent decided to bring the program back this year due to growing community needs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. 

“With more people relying on food banks because of the pandemic, it seemed like a good time to bring it back,” said Lent. 

Lent said that the food the library collects is going to be donated to Ginny’s Helping Hands and the Spanish American Center. So far, the library has collected several grocery carts full of non-perishable food items, some of which are coming from the community with no late fines to repay.

“That’s one of my favorite parts of this,” said Lent. “This is a very generous and community minded place, so people are donating just to help their neighbors. It’s wonderful.”