When Mackenzie Bearup was diagnosed with a condition that caused her chronic pain, the only thing that took her mind off her pain -- the only escape she could find -- was reading.
And when her pediatrician told her that the nearby Murphy-Harpst Children's Center -- a residential treatment center for Georgia's most severely abused children -- had a library but no books for the children to read, Mackenzie had an idea.
She began collecting books, asking everyone she knew for donations. She even stuffed flyers inside mailboxes, placed newspaper ads and started a Web site. Once the library at Murphy-Harpst was full, Mackenzie found other places that desperately needed books, such as children's homes and homeless and domestic violence shelters.
Mackenzie was only 13 years old when she began collecting childrens books for shelters. Her book drive quickly took off. Today she has collected and donated over 38,000 books to shelters in several states. She's so far donated books for libraries and reading rooms in 27 shelters. And with her mother's help, the teenager launched her official nonprofit -- Sheltering Books -- last year. For her work helping to spread the healing power of reading to disadvantaged kids, Mackenzie has been named a CNN Hero.
"If one homeless or abused child finds a love of reading through books that I've given them, then that will help them in school and just turn their life around entirely," she told CNN. "I really think that reading can do that for someone."
Read the CNN Heroes article about Mackenzie here.
Click here for information on how to donate or collect books for Sheltering Books. Here is a super easy way you can get your kids involved in helping... Go to the post office and pick up a prepaid flat rate box, go buy a few books or hold your own book drive at work or school and send those books to Mackenzie.
Wow, I am really amazed at another young person who "does what they can, where they are, with what they have!!" Mackenzie Bearup.... YOU ROCK!!
Sources: Sheltering Books
Good News Now
No comments:
Post a Comment