Lexie’s Book Drive – Helping the Children of Joplin

The NASCAR community is known for coming to the aid in times of need. Tonight we allow a young fan with a heart of gold the opportunity to share her latest project and how you can help her and the children of Joplin, Missouri. We give a warm Skirts and Scuffs welcome to Lexie.


My name is Lexie Ziolkowski and I am 13 years old. The past few years I have collected over 10,000 books for needy children which I donated through the Kyle Busch Foundation. This year I had already started another book drive when the tornados hit Joplin, MO. They lost three grade schools, a middle school, and a high school. In all, they lost 260 classrooms. Not only were the teachers’ classroom libraries hit, but people lost all of their personal books. Reading and books are very important to me, and if I lost my books, I would be devastated. I also know that I look forward to going to the library at school and discovering new books. I decided that this year, I would dedicate my book drive to helping the kids and teachers of Joplin, MO. I would like to help replace classroom libraries lost in the tornado, and also get books directly to children who lost everything in the storm.

The NASCAR world has already started taking action. Jamie McMurray is from Joplin. McMurray visited his hometown and raised the spirits of many people. Joey Logano and the Home Depot Foundation crew rebuilt the homes of families in Joplin. I am working directly with the Joplin School District and would like to deliver as many books as possible before the start of the school year for the teacher’s classroom libraries. Their goal is to have things as back to normal as possible for the students when they return to school on August 17. I am hoping that all of the generous members of the NASCAR community, from the owners, to the drivers, the crew, and the fans can get involved with this effort. If anyone has new or gently used books suitable for children in grades K-12 that they would like to donate, they can send them to me at:

Lexie’s Book Drive
P.O. Box 446
Huntley, IL 60142

I will be making a delivery to Missouri at the very end of July so that they can get the books to the teachers in time to set them up for the school year, so I would like to collect as many books as possible by then. I will make at least one additional delivery sometime after that to make sure that all of the books donated, even after the school year begins, get into the hands of teachers and students who
need them. All of the information about my book drive can be found at www.lexiesdrive.org. More information on how to help the people of Joplin can be found at www.rebuildjoplin.org.
Lexie’s Book Drive – Helping the Children of Joplin Lexie’s Book Drive – Helping the Children of Joplin Reviewed by Admin on Monday, June 27, 2011 Rating: 5