Kindergartner keeps fellow students reading
Special to Leader-Press
Copperas Cove Five Hills Junior Ambassador Maddox Tobias slides on his latex gloves and sanitizes the former newspaper bin at Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy. He opens the spring-hinged door and peers inside.
“Wow, people really loved these books,” the Clements/Parsons Elementary kindergartener said. “Let’s put more in here.”
The former newspaper bins at all CCISD pre-K, elementary, and junior high school locations as well as the two city swimming pools were turned into Free Little Libraries in 2017 and Maddox maintains them, keeping them filled with age-appropriate books.
“Oh, they are going to love this book,” Maddox said, putting one of his favorite books, donated from his personal collection, into the bin.
Maddox visits the Free Little Library locations monthly and more often if needed to ensure students have plenty of reading material, especially over holiday breaks from school and during the summer months.
“When Maddox was selected as the 2020 Miniature Mister Five Hills and was offered the Free Little Libraries as his community service project, it was a perfect fit,” said Jillian Tobias, Maddox’s mother. “Maddox loves books and is excited to see how many books need to be added each time we make rounds to clean and restock the multiple locations.”
After a few years of constant use in the community, the Free Little Libraries began to show signs of wear. In January 2021, Maddox spent 40 hours giving the stands a complete makeover, submitting product requests to local businesses, picking up the stations, cleaning them, painting them and adding stencils, returning the stations back to their different locations, and restocking them with books. Sherwin Williams of Copperas Cove donated the paint. Home Base provided the plexiglass for each stand, and Cali Signs donated the corrugated signs. The Killeen Daily Herald donated the newspaper stands which are now the Free Little Libraries.
As Miniature Mister Five Hills 2020 and Copperas Cove Five Hills Junior Ambassador 2021, Maddox has volunteered more than 60 hours collecting book donations, sorting books and cleaning and restocking the stations over the last 18 months.
On National Lemonade Day, Maddox hosted his first stand, partnering with Bell County Glass to provide the investment of covering the stand’s expenses. With the $700 profit, Maddox provided books for children in foster care and audio books for nursing homes. Maddox collected more than 200 books at his lemonade stand and has used those books to keep the Free Little Libraries stocked.
“Maddox has learned a lot about selflessness, helping others, working as a team, and so much more through this project and through the Miss Five Hills Scholarship Program,” Jillian Tobias said. “As his parents, we could not be prouder.”
If you wish to donate children’s books, please place them in any Free Little Library or email fivehillspageant@gmail.com.