Julia Foos isn’t spending her summer at camp or on a beach somewhere, this teen is spending it in her basement, for a really good cause. The teen has collected and donated 25,000 books to kids in need in the Cleveland, Ohio area for the last three years. And her family’s basement is where all those books are collected, sorted, and boxed.
Being a bookworm herself, Foos was inspired to start the project after reading that many children in her area don’t have access to books. The city has some of the lowest literacy rates in the country, so she set a goal to collect 250 books, which she quickly blew past. Now the new and gently used books donated by schools, families, and businesses will go to literacy nonprofits and get to kids who can really use them.
"They’re going to kids in lower-income families who maybe aren’t able to get to a library, or who don’t have access to books at home," Foos says. "I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I didn’t have that chance."
If you’re interested in donating books, you can find more information on Julia’s Facebook page, “Books Offer Opportunities for Kids.”
Source: News 5 Cleveland