The 30,000-square-foot warehouse at TD4 Electrical, LLC, a minority-owned electrical construction company in South St. Louis, looked like a book-distribution company on Monday, March 23.
Nearly 500,000 children’s books – about enough to fill 10 elementary-school libraries – were stacked on palettes in rows upon rows. By the end of the week, those books will be shelved at 1,000 public schools and organizations that serve kids from low-income families throughout St. Louis and the state.
“It’s a massive amount of books,” said Tommy Davis Jr., president of TD4 Electrical, located at 3400 Morganford Ave. “It almost looks like a sea of books.”
The books came from the nonprofit First Book, which receives donations from Disney Publishing and Random House and then distributes them to select communities. Although the project had been in the works for about a year, the Ferguson unrest made the initiative even more necessary, said Charles Henson, of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in St Louis.
The Ferguson Public Library and the Ferguson-Florissant School District will receive books through the initiative.
About a year ago, a First Book executive approached Henson about bringing the books to St. Louis, but it wasn’t as easy as saying “yes,” Henson said. He had to find a partner who had the capacity to store half a million books. He spoke with several organizations and school districts, but none we able to meet the minimum space requirement of 8,500 square feet. Then Henson called Davis, his client, who agreed.
“When business leaders like Tommy Davis recognize the advantages of investing in education and our kids, families are stronger, communities are stronger and tomorrow’s workforce pipeline is stronger,” said Henson, who is a former Ferguson-Florissant school board member.
Davis called TD4 the quarterback of the project because they are coordinating the delivery of the 480,000 books and the 40 daily volunteers who will put together packages for participants. For the past week, two or three 18-wheelers have shown up daily to drop off palettes of books.
“It will significantly impact my operations for that week, but this is a statement that TD4 wants to make in the community,” Davis said. “We are a minority business enterprise, and we are giving back because there is nothing more precious than education.”
His wife, Toni, is the true quarterback, he said, because she has taken a lead in coordinating arrangements between First Book, MBDA and the volunteers.
Many of the volunteers are students who participate in the nonprofit National Institute of Youth Entrepreneurship (NIYE,) led by Michael Liddell. However, Davis wants to make this is more than a community service opportunity for the students, but also one for mentorship. He has contacted several companies in the construction field to send representatives who can volunteer alongside these students – including Washington University, Clayco, Kaemmerlen Electric, McCarthy Building Companies and KPMG.
First Book also gives the distributor 10,000 books, which in this case will go to TD4’s nonprofit partner NIYE. Davis said he would like to have those books go to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ new Empowerment Center in Ferguson, which will be erected on the ashes of the burned down QuikTrip on West Florissant Avenue. He also hopes to pass out some books in person to Ferguson families and children with his wife and four children.
“Third-grade reading scores is so important,” Henson said. “If this can in any way build a love of reading or interest in a particular topic, it can change a child’s life forever. The community needs healing. It starts with looking at our future.”
Follow this reporter on Twitter @RebeccaRivas.
