Alpharetta Teen's Books Charity Earns Her a Scholarship

Mackenzie Bearup of Alpharetta received a $1,000 scholarship in the Kohl’s Department Stores’ Kohl’s Cares® Scholarship Program, and has a chance at the $10,000 top prize.

The Kohl's Cares program honors more than 200 deserving volunteers with $1,000 scholarships toward post-secondary education.

The 18-year-old Bearup founded Sheltering Books when she was 13. It is an organization that has collected and donated more than 100,000 books to children in homeless shelters in 35 states and underprivileged school children in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Her work earned her "Greatest Person of the Day" honors from Huffington Post two years ago.

Four students from the Atlanta area were chosen from more than 35,000 nominees nationwide for making a positive impact in their local communities. Through the program, Kohl's said it is encouraging promising youth to further their education at a time when college costs have risen approximately seven percent per year for decades, according to an article in Forbes written by Steve Orland.

“Kohl’s is honored to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of the more than 200 regional level Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program winners this year,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “From collecting books for underprivileged children to fundraising for a community food bank, the efforts of these kids are undoubtedly making our communities better places to live and it is a pleasure to recognize and thank them for their work.”

Winners are chosen based on initiative, leadership, generosity and project benefits and outcomes. Each regional-level winner qualifies for one of Kohl’s 10 national scholarships, which will be announced at the end of July. National winners will each receive a total of $10,000 in scholarships and Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization on each national winner’s behalf. In total, Kohl’s will recognize more than 2,200 young volunteers with more than $420,000 in scholarships and prizes.