The COVID-19 pandemic forced many local libraries to close or limit hours.
Now, one local student teacher is on a mission to make sure students have the books they need.
“Our kids don’t have access to our school library here. And I was thinking about where they would get their books from,” said Nina Quasarano, student teacher at Woodland Park Academy.
That thought quickly turned into action. What was supposed to be a tiny home for Quasarano, is now a library on wheels.
“There was an issue created when we closed down and we’re living through a pandemic. And kids weren’t getting the books that they needed for a lot of people,” said Jeremy Brown, principal of Woodland Park Academy.
Through the bookmobile, kids can read books for free.
“I wanted to find a way to provide books for the kids that wasn’t going to cost anything for the teachers or take anything out of their own classroom library,” Quasarano said.
There are more than 2,000 books for the kids in the book mobile for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Thousands of more donations have yet to be added.
“They can check out books. I’ll take it out of the circulation. I’ll put it in a bag for them,” Quasarano said.
Students can either visit the book mobile or have their books delivered. It’s a trip that’s fueled by passion for the student teacher, but adds up to a pretty penny.
“I have a very small part-time job that I love,” Quasarano said. “But at the end of the day, I am spending a lot more money than I am making at this point in my life.”
She is hoping with the help of the community, she can keep the bookmobile going from home to home.
“The ultimate goal is to see that families learn to love reading, to share those moments together, to learn together, to explore together,” Quasarano said.
A GoFundMe has been created to help with costs.
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