Fourth-grader Kirstin Shipp of Howard County, Maryland, organized a drive that netted approximately 9,000 books to replace the library books that were lost when the school in Mulhall, Oklahoma, was destroyed by a tornado May 3.
Shipp collected donations from boxes placed at her school, local grocery stores, and a church. After the family garage was filled with books, Shipp’s mother called a storage company who agreed to rent a unit for half price. Family friends helped transport the donations to the storage unit, according to the August 26 Baltimore Sun.
The books were transported cross-country by Betty Swigelson, owner of a New Mexico moving company, who often donates the use of her trucks and drivers for good works. The books were taken to the Orlando-Mulhall School, which will serve as an elementary and high school for the two towns until a new elementary school can be built in Mulhall.
Posted September 6, 1999.