Valley Metro donates 5,000 books to students as part of annual campaign
May 24, 2018, 5:18 PM
(Flickr/Valley Metro)
(Flickr/Valley Metro)
PHOENIX — Christmas is still many months away, but a number of Phoenix-area students were gifted with thousands of books as part of an annual campaign from Valley Metro.
Valley Metro and First Transit employees pitched in to donate 5,000 books to students in Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe as part of the department’s Driving for Books campaign.
The distribution kicked off at Thew Elementary School in Tempe on Wednesday, when kindergarten through fifth-grade students were given the opportunity to each take home a book for some summer reading.
The books were delivered using a special Valley Metro bus, which was wrapped in artwork by Lyndzi Ramos, a sophomore at Peoria High School.
One of the driving — no pun intended — forces behind the Driving for Books campaign was Valley Metro bus operator Jermaine Bethea, who, as a Tempe Elementary School District bus driver, started donating books to students who may not have one of their own.
“I couldn’t have done this alone,” Bethea said in a press release. “I want to give back to the kids in my community. It’s fun to see how happy they are when they receive their books.”
The number of donated books more than doubled in the last year, with 2,100 books donated in 2017.
“I am so excited to read my new book this summer,” said second-grader Catherine Espinoza.
