After seeing the condition of books in her school, nine-year-old Hailey Labrador was inspired to make a change for her community and over early April, she collected more than 2,100 books to give to schools throughout the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).
“I almost read all of the books in my library, and most of the books my brothers bring home are like all ripped up,” said Hailey, who attends Brookhouse Elementary. “So I thought I would do a book drive to get new books for our schools that are brand new and aren’t all ripped up.”
On Tuesday, she got to deliver boxes of 100 books each to 21 HRM schools, including Basinview Elementary.
“Last evening, I received an email from the parent of the student that wanted to donate the books, and we were so excited, and it was so fitting to donate books during our school Read-A-Thon,” said Ken Marchand, principal of Basinview.
The Basinview Read-A-Thon has students getting sponsors for how many minutes they read, and the money is raised for the school.
“We’ll be placing the books in our school library, and we’re excited that we’ll place inside the books that, ‘they were donated by this student’,” Marchand said. “It’s a statement for the leadership of the kids that we have here today.”
In total, she gave out 2,100 books, though she said there are still some leftover that she will give out in the future.
“I’m very proud of her,” said Phelicia Lynn Labrador, Hailey’s mother. “She did a dance to raise money for school supplies, and now this book drive, she has another fundraiser coming up this summer to help with other things in the school.”
Hailey said MLA Andrew Younger helped by sponsoring her, and Cape and Cowl Comics in Lower Sackville donated a space for the drive.
Comments