LYNN — Students from SkillsUSA distributed an estimated 30,000 books to the community during the group’s first-ever book drive on Saturday at Lynn Tech.
The drive is one of three events that SkillsUSA is planning around the theme of “wealth mindset.” The focus of Saturday’s event was literary wealth. The next project — an expo on Jan. 7 — will be centered on mental wealth, and the third project will focus on financial wealth.
Members of SkillsUSA spent more than a week putting together the book drive, which also included festive activities like face painting, ornament decorating, story reading, cookies and hot cocoa, and pictures with Santa.
“The event went great. Even with the weather as a potential deterrent, more than 500 families came and received their share of books,” said SkillsUSA advisor Jason McCuish. “It was incredible to watch the student leaders from SkillsUSA put this project together from beginning to end. The energy and excitement coupled with the enormous physical labor of lugging around and moving 40,000 books was inspiring to watch.”
The books were sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers and the Lynn Teachers Union.
SkillsUSA member Anthony Gonzalez said that, despite the rain, they had a great turnout, and he was happy to be able to experience it with his peers.
“I was so happy to be a part of it and even happier to see all the kids, teens, and even adults with smiles on their faces from all the books they were getting,” Gonzalez said. “Our team worked really hard the whole week to make sure that the event went as planned and to see the fruit of our project flourish was a great feeling. Taking part in our community is always a great feeling and we were so happy to see the impact we were making in our community.”
This isn’t the first festive event of the season that SkillsUSA hosted. They partnered with the Gregg House earlier in the month to host a Christmas party for 35 families, where they gave away around 600 toys and held events and activities for the kids as well.
