If you're looking for extra reading material this spring, there's a warehouse full of books in Baldwin County. The school district is updating their media centers with new classroom materials, but instead of tossing out the old, they're giving it away.
It's the power of knowledge these students crave.
“To find out the truth you have to go to the source, and most times, that truth is in a book,” said Rubin Pyatt, 11th grader. “More people can have this enriching experience which is reading where you're experiencing new information and new worlds,” said 10th grader Tabitha Sewell.
With more than 10,000 books inside, Baldwin County Schools is giving away old books to enrich students' minds. “There's more than textbooks. It's great collections of work that you'd end up paying quite a bit of money at the bookstore or online to find,” said Byron Wellman with Baldwin County Schools.
Sophomore Tabitha Sewell says sometimes it is the price of books that can create a learning gap for some families. “I remember so vividly, at a young age, me and my dad would go to the Salvation Army because he and I both love to read. We'd sit there just looking through the pile for something good, and it's so difficult to truly find books that you need when you're not in the best situation financially.”
But for this community giveaway, both kids and adults can leave with as many books as they'd like. “We've got all this stuff and we don't want to let it go to waste, so we're opening up the warehouse these couple of days, letting folks pick from inside,” said Wellman. “Reading just opens up our minds to new stories that we've never heard before, or it's something that we wouldn't get from just sitting down and talking to someone,” said Pyatt.
The book giveaway will reopen this Saturday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the school district's warehouse on ABC Street in Milledgeville, and you can take home as many books as you want.