Unloading half a million books is hard work, but no one is complaining. That’s because the books are free and they’re going out to more than 100 local schools and nonprofits.
It is a windfall for educators like librarian Taryan Burleston in the Flowing Wells School District. She received 2000 free books and this week her students unpacked hundreds of boxes.
"It is incredible. It is like a dream come true opening the boxes and seeing the kids. They say things like “This is like Christmas!”
The books come courtesy of the D.C.-based nonprofit First Book. First Book gets publishers to donate unused inventories - then makes arrangements with local communities to provide the warehouse and hundreds of volunteers to take and distribute the books.
“This whole distribution has really proven that Tucson can pull it together,” Burleston said.
The mission is to get these books into the homes of children who really need them.
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