The John Carroll Romero Service Club, the Black Student Union, and the Art Club worked together to organize a book drive to benefit Gardenville Elementary School in Baltimore.

Together they were able to collect over 750 books to donate to Gardenville’s school library.

The Art Club created a banner welcoming the students at Gardenville Elementary into their new library.

On Friday March 21, eight students from both the BSU and Romero Service Club went on a service trip to Gardenville Elementary.

They helped to deliver the books, set up and organize the library and food pantry, and engage with the students as they saw their brand-new library.

At Gardenville Elementary, members from around the community came together to help set up the library.

The Frederick Douglass High School Marching Band came and preformed to help everyone celebrate.

Also, the old mayor of Baltimore spoke to the children and donated a copy of the Harry Potter series.

Many people and schools in the Baltimore area came together to help raise books for their library with a grand total of over 2,000 books being collected from a variety of different people.

Service Learning Coordinator Kristen Brown said “Our community came together to make a real difference for the students of Gardenville Elementary. By collecting over 750 children’s books, we’ve helped fill their empty shelves and open new worlds of imagination and learning. Every book is a step toward a brighter future.”

Before this drive began, the shelves in the library were empty, Sarah Caruso an active member in the community reached out to the mayors of Baltimore to help fill the shelves of local schools’ libraries.