Bolingbrook School Receives $5,000 in Books from Amazon

More than a dozen Amazon representatives, many of whom work at the company’s Romeoville fulfillment center, surprised B.J. Ward students by donating $5,000 in hard cover books and e-books to the Bolingbrook elementary school Thursday afternoon.

With Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar and the entire Ward student body, teachers and administrators looking on, Amazon employees marched into the gym with large boxes and several wooden bookshelves filled with new books in both English and Spanish.

Students, who were gathered for a Black History Month appearance by the Jesse White Tumblers, shrieked in delight as they realized what was happening. A representative from each classroom was allowed to come to the gym floor to examine a box.

Amazon also donated erasers to the school to replace socks that are used in some classrooms to erase white boards.

“Every now and then, employees and their families who work and live in a community like to go into a couple of schools in the community to make a donation to benefit a school,” spokesman Joe Khayyat told Ward Principal Ted Warpinski when the visit was set up.

All of the books will be catalogued and placed in circulation throughout the school.

Submitted by Valley View School District