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Enjoying a book together!

Books Beyond Borders gave away thousands of children’s books to students, parents, and teachers during the third installment of the ‘Stories To Go’ project on Saturday, December 4.

Doors opened at 9:00 a.m. at the Books Beyond Borders warehouse at 618 Tillery Street in East Austin. Five thousand books were hauled away – one box per person.

Books Beyond Borders President Thomas Barker says the event has grown in popularity during its first two installments. The first Stories To Go book donation was in September of this year. Barker and partner Patricia Nuñez held the second Stories To Go giveaway in October.

“The first time we still had books left over after three hours,” Thomas said. “The second time all the books were gone in a half-hour, and people were lined up outside before we opened the doors.”

Patricia and Thomas came up with the idea one day when they were discussing the overflow of children’s books produced by the business. Books Beyond Borders recycles donated books and sells them online, while the proceeds go to fund Project Schoolhouse, a nonprofit that builds schools in impoverished, rural Nicaragua.

“(Thomas) was trying to find something to do with the books,” Patricia, who works in the bilingual/bicultural department of the University of Texas Graduate Office, explains. “He said, I want to find a way to get the books into the children’s hands.”

Valerie Borchers, assistant principal of Austin Independent School District’s elementary school named for Lance Corporal Nicholas S. Perez, says she attended the first Stories To Go donation event and came away with a wealth of material for the kids at her school.

“This is a good opportunity for me to get books,” Valerie said. “And they were good quality books, too.”

She said the five or six boxes she got allowed her school to hold a drawing on Fridays called Being Ready To Learn, where the lucky students that win the drawing get a free book of their choosing. She said it’s a fun way to get kids excited about reading.

As a part of the Stories To Go effort, Books Beyond Borders also started working closely with Mauro and Teresa Rodriguez and the New Covenant Church on their project ‘Operation Christmas Gift.’

“We received an email about these books they were giving away,” Teresa says. “We asked Thomas if they had any left and what they were going to do with them.”

Operation Christmas Gift packs shoeboxes for children ages 2-14 on a reservation in Arizona with toys, a toothbrush, and toothpaste, and now, every shoebox has a free children’s book from Books Beyond Borders.

Operation Christmas Gift is accepting additional donations. You can reach Mauro and Teresa at 512.926.7952 or on the web at the church’s website, nccaustin.org.