Jennings Creek Elementary tornado victims receive new books

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-The gift of a single book can make a world of difference to kids still recovering from last year’s tornadoes.

“It’s not the first thing you think of. It’s not clothes or a roof over your head or things like that,” said Western Kentucky University Associate Professor of Literary Education Nancy Hulan. 

WKU and the Rotary Club partnered up to give around ten books each to Jennings Creek Elementary students- the ones who lost belongings in the tornadoes.

“I looked and I saw everything collapse and then our dad took us out and we saw everything was destroyed…we were the only part of the apartment that was still there,” said 4th grade student Angel Ortiz. 

Even though a year has almost passed, it’s an experience they’ll have to live with forever. 

“The environment looks like we’re all repaired from the tornado but these children all have emotional trauma from the tornado. It’s just amazing to see how happy they were today,” said Rotary Board Disaster Relief Chairman Tracy Holland. 

“It’s awesome how they’re helping us and giving us a better life,” said 4th grade student Oras Hani. 

Each of the books were picked out to go along with the child’s interest. 

“I got the ‘Dark, Dark Place’ and creepy stories,” said 2nd grade student Jaylah Saintil. 

And in a way, kids can lose themselves in a book, helping them deal with the hard stuff.

“They can live in a book for a little while and experience hard challenges the character experiences and realize I can live through hard stuff too. Also you can live in a fantasy book and forget all the hard stuff around you,” said Hulan.