NOEL -- Sam Brewer, 16, is a high school student and a member of the National Honor Society. On Nov. 18, he gathered book donations for students at the Noel Primary School at 14762 State Highway 90.
This project is close to his heart and, as a former student at the school, he is now giving all the students the chance to walk out with a book during the Scholastic Book Fair.
In the school library, there are boxes with hundreds of books. They're fanned out on the tables, ready to be picked. Students browse through and take a few of their favorites for free. Brewer himself remembers at these book fairs, not every child had the means to buy a book. So he created a project which allowed all to take part.
According to the Scholastic Book Fair catalog, some books' price ranges could be less than $5 but others up to $15 per book.
This is Brewer's second free book fair project and the idea came from another classmate who had a passion project of her own.
"Two years ago, before I was in NHS, there was this girl who collected costumes for kids that didn't have costumes. It was really heartwarming for me."
NHS is an organization that gives high school students the chance to give back to the community. According to its website, the organization "empowers and equips students with the knowledge and skills to be transformative leaders in school, community, and beyond."
Within the organization, each student takes part in a program called the "Individual Service Project" or ISP. Each student in the National Honor Society can choose a passion project to benefit the community.
Brewer reached out to the community through social media and, to his surprise, it went very well. "I just said, 'Hey, if you guys have unused or unwanted books, please donate them to my cause. I'm doing a free book fair soon.' ... And I got so many boxes."
Underneath the tables are dozens of boxes waiting to be opened.
The reason he chose this project was that he feels that technology has distracted children to the point where they may not like to read books. But with this free book fair, he's trying to get "that imaginary spark going" without them having to worry about returning the books.
He says his favorite part of the free book fair project is when all the children in one voice say:" Thank you, Mr. Brewer," because he knows they got to experience a good childhood memory.
Something that touches his heart is the school district's motto: "Every child-Everyday-Whatever it takes."
"I really take that to heart," said Brewer. "Because each of these students I'd like to think as like my little brothers and sisters, because I went to school here. And just seeing the school thrive, it just makes me happy."