My friends, we did it.
I asked for your help, your kindness, and you
overwhelmingly responded. It was the
perfect reminder to me that, as Helen Keller said, “Alone, I can do so
little. Together, we can do so much.”
When I heard that the Reading Coach at Gomez Heritage
Elementary School, Tanya Becker, had died suddenly at only 48 years old, it
moved me. And as I saw her co-workers,
mostly my sister Sherry, grieve for the tremendous loss, I decided that I
wanted to do something. But in
situations like that, what is there to DO, right? Send a card, maybe bake a casserole… Those
types of situations feel so overwhelming that it seems like nothing can be
done.
 |
| Gomez Heritage Elementary School |
Maybe it was because I was taking serious painkillers for
a surgery I had just had, but I thought of an idea: COLLECT ENOUGH DONATED
BOOKS TO GIVE ONE TO EVERY CHILD AND STAFF MEMBER AT TANYA’S SCHOOL. Reading was her mission, and by giving
everyone a book, we could help carry that mission on!
 |
| Tanya Becker, an inspirational woman |
So I texted my sister and asked if she thought the idea
would be a respectful way to honor Tanya and if the school would allow me to do
it. She thought it sounded great, so a
plan had been born.
Only, in my drugged up post-surgery state, I hadn’t considered
EVERYTHING… Most blatantly, I hadn’t
asked the critical question, “How many books/people are we talking about
here?”. And now that the project is
done and we have succeeded, I guess I am glad I didn’t ask for numbers in the
beginning, because hearing the answer – a little over 1,000 books needed to be
collected in only one month – might have scared me away!!
I set about DOING.
I looked through my own bookshelves for books in good shape that I could
donate. But the most important thing I did
was to write a blog piece that explained the mission, the project. I posted it, and it started to spread. People read it. People contacted me. People shared the post. And it grew, oh boy did it grow!! To date well over 4,000 people have read
it! You can see the original story here:
Your Kindness Needed post
Then, the most beautiful thing happened - people got
involved. I got emails from so many kind-hearted
souls wanting to pitch in! I was honored
to hear from some of Tanya’s family members, sorority sisters, and former
classmates and students. Her co-workers
at Gomez contacted me. Schools contacted
me. Offices pitched in. Facebook groups of KIND PEOPLE shared and donated. People from all over the country were eager
to help out, many (like me) who had never had the good fortune of meeting
Tanya.
 |
Books starting arriving.
And they just KEPT ON COMING! |
 |
Kemper and Tallis with just a few of the
donated books at their house! |
And before long, the books and gift cards started
arriving. It was fabulous!! We set up 4 drop off points: my house in
Arlington, VA for my neighbors who had read the story, my 2 sister’s houses,
and my niece’s house (all in the Omaha area).
About a week after I wrote about the project, my phone started
buzzing. Things were arriving every
single day!! One sister would text and
say, “A box of books from this person was on my porch when I got home from
work!”. The other sister would text and
say, “The UPS man brought another box of brand new books!!”. My niece would text and say, “My friends all
chipped in – we have lots more books!!”.
 |
This one was great -
Sam I Am becomes Juan Ramon in the Spanish version! |
 |
| Dr. Seuss books arrived! |
 |
| We got "Goodnight iPad" |
 |
| "Goodnight Moon", too |
 |
| Authors like Mary Amato sent autographed books! |
You guys, seeing people getting involved was so
inspiring! Our goal of 1,000 books
seemed huge, but as more people pitched it, it began to look more and more
doable. Even AUTHORS donated and were
gracious enough to autograph their books!!
A non-profit group in Omaha offered to help us meet our goal if we
needed assistance. And one retired
teacher in Omaha donated her WHOLE COLLECTION of books that she had used in the
classroom for years – boxes and boxes and boxes of books! It was amazing!
 |
| Mrs. Rohwer's husband delivered her entire collection of classroom books! |
 |
| A very special in-person book deliver from Mrs. Becker's family |
 |
You might recognize Kindness Activist Brenda,
seen here delivering books she and her
office mates collected! |
 |
| Author/Editor Megan Scribner autographing two very special books to donate |
We got books of every type you can imagine. We got:
paperbacks, hard covers, Spanish, picture books, adult books, kid books,
books of literally every size, shape, and topic imaginable!!!! And I had some stickers designed to put inside
the front covers of each book to remind the recipients how much Mrs. Becker
loved them, and of the importance of continuing to READ!
 |
| This was the image on the stickers - Mrs. Becker often made her hands into this heart shape |
As books continued to pour in, I realized I had to
go to Omaha for the delivery. I mean, the
whole project was so inspiring and it was growing by leaps and bounds, so I didn’t
want to miss the big delivery day! I booked
a ticket on Southwest Airlines, knowing that they allow for 2 free checked bags
and anticipating I would use that allowance to haul BOOKS!
I flew to Omaha (with 98.5 lbs of luggage, most of which
was books!) a few days before the “giveaway” day and we set about
ORGANIZING. We needed 1,000 books, but we
got FAR, FAR more than that!! We ended up getting over 5,000
books!!! Yes, FIVE TIMES the amount we
asked for!! We didn’t even have to
contact the non-profit who was our “back-up” in case we didn’t meet the goal. It was so inspiritng!!! It was also exhausting, and took a houseful
of family members hours and hours to organize.
 |
| Annette, going through a box of donations |
 |
| Even the school PRINCIPAL, Mr. Campin, helped out! |
 |
| At the end of the organizing party - whew there were LOTS of books (this picture only shows a fraction of them!) |
 |
| Stickers getting ready to be put in |
Because we had so many books, it allowed us to not only
give a book to each Gomez person, but to help stock a reading area at the
school that the PTO Is planning in Mrs. Becker’s memory, and ALSO to help some
brand new teachers at the school start their very own classroom libraries! We know that Tanya would have been thrilled
to help with that.
My sister Sherry and I filmed a piece to be shown on the
school news the morning of the giveaway so that each classroom would understand
the project. We wanted to be honest
without being too sad, and to speak to the students on their level. We decided to end the piece by reading a book
called, “The Goodbye Book” by Todd Parr, a children’s author that I love. Let me just say this; we had to practice a
few times before filming to make sure we could get through the book without
crying too hard. You can see the Gomez
video here:
Gomez TV Mrs. Becker story (scroll down until you see us in yellow and blue t-shirts).
The day of the giveaway was overwhelming. Students and staff were SO APPRECIATIVE.
We began by displaying the adult books in a teacher work
room, and also putting up a shadow box we had made in Tanya’s memory. As soon as the books were out, teachers and
staff began coming in and looking through them.
It was terrific.
 |
| Shadow Box for Gomez |
 |
| Adult books ready for staff to peruse! |
We had pre-sorted the books separated into reading
levels, so when the bell rang and school started we were ready to go! My sisters and I each had a decorated cart piled
high with books for the grade level we were going to visit, and off we
went!! We started with the itty bitties,
and boy was it beautiful!!
 |
| Would anyone like a BOOK?? :) |
In each classroom I explained why I was there and then
laid far more books than were needed on a rug.
We wanted to make sure that not only did students get a book, but they
had a CHOICE in their book. They. Loved.
It. Some kids literally squealed with delight at the idea of
getting their very own book to bring home with them!!! I heard this phrase often throughout the day,
“But there are soooo many books, too many to choose!!!!!” One little boy described the rug full of
books to choose from as a “BOOK VOLCANO”!!!!
And one child in a second grade classroom that Sherry visited proclaimed
that the book he was given was his very
first ever book to keep.
Imagine!!
 |
| The book hand-out crew |
We got so many hugs, so many thank you s, and some tears
from teachers. But most of all, we got
LOVE. It was clear that this day of
giving, this day of books, meant far more than words on paper. It was a day to remember Tanya, to celebrate
her life and her mission, to grieve.
So friends, THANK YOU.
Thanks to those who sent books, donations, or gift cards. Thanks to those who sent encouraging
words. Thanks to those who believed we could do it! WE
DID IT!!!!!!
Special thanks to the on-the-scene helpers: Sherry, Jim, Annette, Jordan, Zach, Ashlee
(who also helped at Gomez), Kemper, Tallis, and Ryker
Lessons learned from this humongous act of kindness:
·
If you ask for help, you are likely to get it
·
In times of sorrow, people want to help but are
not sure how to. If you give them
something concrete to do, they appreciate it.
They have a way to help, and their actions make the world a better
place.
·
Children are very appreciative.
·
There are plenty of kind people in the world.
·
Don’t be afraid to set a lofty goal – because you
just might reach it.
That’s a wrap! We do
not need any more donations, so if you have books to give, please consider donating
them to another charity.
Thanks for being SO KIND.
 |
The end of a very long, very beautiful, VERY SPECIAL day. There are signs all around the school that proclaim their values, but I didn't notice the one on the door behind us until now: GRATITUDE.
Yes, gratitude that such a wonderful lady touched so many lives and brought so much love to the world.
Tanya Becker, you are missed. |
