VIDEO: Dallas Public Library donates 5,000+ books to tornado damaged school

VIDEO: Dallas Public Library donates 5,000+ books to tornado damaged school

Donald T. Shields Elementary School was directly in the path of the tornadoes that ripped through North Texas in December. Exterior walls were blown down and the roof collapsed in many places.

“Our library was one of the major places in the building that was totally destroyed, so we lost all of our books,” said Principal Shondra Jones.

The Dallas Public Library helped fill the empty shelves in their temporary school building with more than 5,000 donated books. “I think they were a little shocked to see that big truck pull up, they were expecting 500 books,” Dallas Public Library Director Jo Giudice said as her team unloaded 5,077 books.

Many of the donated books came from the Dallas library’s own shelves. The library also asked the public for donations, and they came pouring in from the community – from as far away as Florida.

“A book, is like an old friend and you can go away into a far place and escape and forget some of the devastation that happened in their neighborhood,” Giudice said. “They’re in a temporary school, they’re not even in their old school, so it’s a lot of change for these kids. They can find a story that they love and reconnect.”

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