GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Clay County classrooms and homes are in line to have 40,000 free books flow into children’s hands as part of a program spearheaded by the teacher’s union.

A mass of new books from the international education nonprofit First Book will soon arrive in Clay County. The goal is to provide teachers at Title I schools with books to stock their classrooms as part a program led by the Clay County Education Association in tandem with the state teacher’s union.

A massive community giveaway operation is planned to take place Oct. 14 at Green Cove Springs Junior High. The books are a mix of entertaining material sourced from publishers across the country and distributed through the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit First Book to schools with help from the national teacher’s union, the American Federation of Teachers.

CCEA competed with other Florida counties to receive the books.

To receive the books at no cost, the teacher’s union needs 2,000 signatures from staff and parents from Title I schools, schools where a majority of the student population receive free or reduced lunch.

“We’re super excited because we’ve never done anything like this in Clay,” said Renna Lee Paiva, president of CCEA. “We’re a midsize county right in the middle of the road urban school system, not a rural school system that doesn’t have a lot of poverty in it so for us to be able to do this is awesome.”

CCEA began to circulate more than 3,000 petitions last week through the schools to acquire signatures needed to receive the books.

The day before the distribution event, volunteers will unload the shrink-wrapped books from tractor-trailers into the school’s gymnasium. Volunteers will then sort the books by grade level for the event. CCEA is asking for extra volunteers to assist with the event.

Each school teacher from a Clay County Title I school can take between 50 and 100 books per classroom, while parents themselves can grab between 10 and 20 books per child, all for free.

According to First Book, books are among the most influential gifts a child can receive.

“When a child gets a brand new book, the fact that someone has cared enough to give them something that is brand new means a lot,” said Melanie Boyer, First Book public information officer. “The first thing they do is hug it to their chest. That’s something that we know.”

Clay County School District Superintendent Addison Davis expressed gratitude to the teacher’s union for their work in an August public meeting.

“Hats off to you for your legwork, because as I walk classrooms in my first seven, eight months here as superintendent, I realize there’s a great need for classroom libraries, and so for you and your team to go out and bring additional resources for our students – that’s awesome,” he said. “I honestly can’t afford to buy 40,000 books…we will openly support you.”

Bus drivers with the Clay Education Support Personnel Association – the county’s union for other school employees such as food workers and bus drivers – agreed to volunteer their time to shuttle teachers and parents from schools to Green Cove Springs Junior High for the event.

“There are many kids in our schools that don’t have many books at home,” Paiva said. “Without reading, kids can’t learn. So, this is for education, of course. Literacy is the basis for all education. We want to get these books into kid’s hands.”

Paiva said many teachers spend their own money to buy supplies – including books. So, she said, having the books donated will not only help the students, but remove some financial stress from teachers who, likewise, want their students to have access to books.