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WEST VALLEY CITY — The students at Stansbury Elementary School received a much-needed donation Friday.
"Most of our families are just making ends meet and so when it comes to having extra money to buy books, they just don't have it," said Stansbury Elementary School Principal Ernie Broderick.
The "Drop 5 for the Book Drive" donation, hosted by Read Today and Papa Murphy's, raised enough to provide books for the 940 students at Stansbury, and organizers expect the final number of books collected will be 12,000. Friday, teachers ripped open the boxes and students picked out a book of their own to take home and read over the summer.
KSL followed two children, who at the beginning of the donation period, donated their books, and today, those books ended up in the hands of some students who appreciated them.
"I feel like every child should learn how to read because it helps them grow and it helps their imagination grow," said 12-year-old Joey Zito, who donated his books.
"I think it expands kids' vocabulary words and it takes them to another place in their imagination while they're still in the same place they started the book," said 10-year-old Grace Zito in March, while donating her books.
Today their books, along with about 1,000 other kids' books, now belong to the students.
"Some of these kids don't even own a book in their home," said Stansbury Elementary School Librarian Renae Hymas. "This is probably all they'll have."
