Walt Whitman Sophomore Collects 3,000 Books For Hindi's Libraries

HUNTINGTON STATION, NY — Hindi's Libraries, a Long Island based nonprofit organization that donates new and gently-used children's books to organizations throughout the world, recently partnered with Victoria Isernia, a sophomore at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station.

Isernia learned about the organization through her aunt, Alissa Repetti, early childhood senior specialist at the Child Care Council of Nassau — one of Hindi's Libraries book donation recipients. Isernia wanted to run a community book drive after spending a week at a leadership camp of RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).

"The leader of the camp, Thud Hill, stressed the importance of giving back to our communities and encouraged us to start our own service projects," Isernia said via press release. "I decided to pursue a book drive because I wanted children to have access to the life lessons and joy that I received when I read as a child."

The South Huntington community rallied behind her without hesitation.

"Once school started, I had collected about 500 books and met with my principal," Isernia said. "He loved my idea and helped me spread awareness for my drive."

She recalled an exciting moment from her efforts.

"One of my favorite memories was when (my) mom got a call from the school telling us to come pick up books, because the main office was full of books!," she said. "When I got to the main office, I stood in shock at the amount of boxes in front of me! I felt so grateful and supported by the community, and I truly believe that in that moment, I knew this drive would be more successful than I had ever imagined."

Her book drive has since collected more than 3,000 books towards Hindi's Libraries from the South Huntington Community.

Dovid Kanarfogel and Leslie Gang, co-founders of Hindi's Libraries, are incredibly grateful and are eager to share the books with children throughout the world.

"It's always so inspiring to see teenagers looking to make a difference, and when they choose to join forces with us, it's truly humbling," the organization stated.

Hindi's Libraries is named in honor of Dr. Hindi Krinsky, who died in August 2018 at 32 years old. Since January 2019, the organization has collected over 40,000 books, which it has donated to more than 350 organizations throughout the world across all 50 states, Puerto Rico & Israel, according to the nonprofit's website.