A young girl in Virginia is sharing her love for reading in a big way.
Emma Fischer, 11, recently became a Cadette in her Girl Scout Troop and decided to pick a passion of hers for her service project.
“I decided to combine my love of reading with this challenge,” Fischer said.
Fischer, a sixth grader at Mantua Elementary School in Fairfax, decided to collect books for the Inova Cares for Children clinic in Falls Church.
She put up flyers and her dad, Kolin, let her post to his Facebook page. She set up a collection box in front of the Mantua Swim and Tennis Club, until they quickly discovered they’d have to keep emptying the box because they were receiving so many donations.
“It was sometimes two, three times a day. We were shuttling back and forth, filling up the car, bringing it back home, and coming back out,” said Kolin.
They collected around 650 new and unused books. Fischer said she’s grateful that the books are going to children in need.
“I feel really good about it, and I really love that it takes their minds off of whatever they’re going through right now,” she said.
Fischer and her family will be delivering the books to the clinic next Friday.
Fischer’s dad said his daughter’s love for reading helped their family get through an incredibly tough time.
“My father in law, her grandfather, passed away, and (before) she would come to the hospital with books to take his mind off of what he was going through,” he said. “She thought back to that time when she was coming up with ideas: ‘I was able to take my grandfather’s mind off of the kind of the pain he was going through. And maybe this can help children in the same type of way.'”
Fischer is incredibly grateful that so many people decided to donate.
“It felt amazing. I was really surprised (by) how much the community was willing to support me,” Fischer said.
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