Goodwill gives local teachers free books

Usually, people give their goods to Goodwill, but Saturday Goodwill gave to area teachers.

It was a chance for teachers to get free books from the nonprofit organization.

KIRO 7 went to the event and there were bins filled to the brim with all kinds of reading material for teachers.

They were given the opportunity to walk out with 50 free books.

"To get them for free is like a miracle," 42-year educator Pam Nelson said.

Nelson is the librarian for Pacific Christian Academy in Federal Way and she is working to restore the school's library.

"It's worth the drive clear from Lake Tapps to come here to Kent to do my exploring," Nelson said.

Nelson was one of 800 teachers expected to visit one of four Goodwills in the area giving away free books for teachers.

Jade King, a first-time special education teacher at Asa Mercer Middle School in Seattle also stocked up.

King said, "Diverse books, which is also what I'm looking for. It's kind of hard to find books with students of color, so I'm digging through and finding some."

Goodwill said it's given more than 100 thousand books to teachers since the giveway started four years ago.

"It became something that just made sense for us because we also are educators. We use our thrift store revenue to provide free career path and education to the unemployed in our region," George White said.

"I feel like its Christmas in August," Nelson said.

In addition to the 50 free books at Saturday's event, teachers also got coupons they could give their students, so they can come and pick out their own books later in the school year.

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