PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Last month, the Local 10 morning co-anchor and crew visited four South Florida schools to distribute brand new books.
It was all part of the 9th annual Local 10 Big Book Drive.
At one of those schools, Lake Forest Elementary in Pembroke Park, Local 10 News’ Eric Yutzy met third grader Janay Clacema, who mentioned she has never owned a book.
“You can make a library card, you can go to the library, if you don’t get books for free you’re going to have to return it and it’s going to be a lot,” Clacema shared with Yutzy. “But, this one, you can actually keep it forever. It just makes you happy.”
Clacema, along with all her classmates, received a brand new book. But her story doesn’t end there.
Miami author and activist, Femi Folami-Browne, saw that report and reached out immediately to help build up Clacema’s home library.
“We want her to know that we support her love of reading and want to keep her supplied with books for her to read to her baby sister all summer,” Folami-Browne wrote in an email.
Local 10 arranged for Folami-Browne, along with Bea Hines, who’s a print journalist and the first Black female journalist hired by the Miami Herald, to surprise Clacema at her school. They brought her a new backpack filled with more new books and a Kindle tablet. Among the new books was Hines’ own, which she signed for Clacema.
“Thank you for your help in making this happen,” said Folami-Browne. “Janay is so deserving.”
Since 2016, The Local 10 Big Book Drive has distributed more than 157,000 new books to kids in South Florida.