NYC first-grader Blake Ansari has set out on an impressive mission — to get books into the hands of homeless children.
The Metropolitan Montessori School student first learned about underprivileged children from his father Nuri Ansari, who works on programs that support homeless and the formerly incarcerated. After learning that not every kid in New York is as lucky as he is, he began to collect books to bring to homeless children.
The Atlantic has the story:
Some came from his classmates. About 200 were donated by family friend Bob Gore. And even more were collected by the office of city councilmember Helen Rosenthal from neighbors of Blake’s school on the Upper West Side, including the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Altogether, the drive netted some 600 books, which will be given out to children who go through the intake process at PATH and be theirs to keep. Blake and his family took the books to PATH in time for Valentine’s Day. He was happy, but he still wants to do more, maybe to build a real library. His mother says he put it this way: “When you listen to the community, learn from the community, and help the community, you connect to your best self.”