The Book Fairy

When I was poor, I worried about feeding my three kids and paying bills. I couldn’t afford toys. So, I wrapped gently used booked in brown paper, addressed them to my children and put them in the mailbox for my kids to find. My kids were ecstatic to receive gifts from the “Book Fairy.”

During that time, I tried to pretend we weren’t poor and that I wasn’t terrified about how to afford life. A contentions divorce coupled with several autoimmune diseases broke me. I could no longer pretend to my kids or to my community.

You know what happened? My neighbors stepped up to help. I used the food shelf for a couple of years. I was on welfare for 3 months. I ran into several people I knew while waiting in line at the food shelf. I learned that we are all one accident, illness, death or divorce away from needing help. I tried to teach my kids about the importance of giving back to the community. I’d never have survived without the love and support of my community.

Years later, I started a book charity with one of my kids which collected gently used books and donated them to food shelves across the state. I donated to food shelves because people can easily access the books. GoodWill is a retail store. We named the charity, “Nourish the Love of Reading.” It’s my hope that the donations uplifted some children’s spirits.