JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Kumon Math & Reading Center of Jacksonville-Fruit Cove held a book drive where they raised 510 books for a hurricane-damaged school in St. Petersburg.
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The school, the Cathedral School of St. Jude, was damaged by both Hurricane Helene and Milton.
Kimberly Teira, an instructor at the Center, is behind the book drive.
“There was so much damage there from the flooding from the hurricanes,” says Teira, whose sister-in-law is a teacher at the Cathedral School. “When she told me about it, it was just awful. I thought, ‘I can help. I can do something.’”
Tiera worked with the local community and parents at the school, where all the books were brought in.
“One boy brought his favorite book and gave it to me. I was a little teary from that. And another parent went to a bookstore and brought a bunch of books to us from there. It was overwhelming.”
Teira is not the only instructor with the Kumon Center who has helped take part in such book drives across the county, as since 2022 Instructors have collected and donated 57,268 books.
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