TORONTO – As someone who by and large delivers the written word for a living, Sandy, Utah postal carrier Ron Lynch knows the value of good reading material.
So he says he was shocked when, on his regular delivery route, he discovered a 12-year-old boy sifting through a junk mail bin for something to read.
Lynch says he struck up a conversation with Matthew Flores, who he saw as a kindred spirit who shared his love of reading.
“I started reading at a very early age. My mother instilled a love of books in me,” Lynch said.
“At 12 years old, he didn’t want electronics, he didn’t want to sit in front of the TV playing games all day, the kid just wanted to read.”
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However, Flores said he didn’t have any books of his own, and because of where he lived, his family couldn’t afford regular trips to the library on the bus.
So he says he was left with reading junk mail: advertisements, flyers, anything he could get his hands on.
So Lynch decided to post a picture of Matthew on his Facebook page, asking anyone who read the post to send him some spare books.
He figured it would attract a bit of interest from his friends – but had no idea just how far his simple appeal would reach.
“[It went]crazy from there. I’ve heard from the U.K., Australia, from India,” Lynch said.
In fact, Matthew estimated he had upwards of 300 books delivered to his home since Lynch’s note went viral.
And he said he plans to read every single one of them.
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