'They Don't Have Books to Read?'

On the night of the Sept. 9 Crestmoor fire, as she and her family watched the disaster unfold through their TV screen at their home across the Bay, nine-year-old Brooke Roeder did what young children sometimes do.

Not quite comprehending what was happening, Brooke began complaining to her mother, Joy, about something else that was on her mind at the moment.

Caught up in the tragedy occurring before their eyes, her mother got upset.

“You need to understand that all these people, all these children have lost their homes, everything—some, their parents or a sibling,” Joy Roeder recalled telling her daughter. “They don’t even have books to read.”

But little did Roeder know that those last few words would inspire her daughter to do one of the most generous things a child could do at such a young age.

“They don’t have books to read?” Brooke replied to her mother, looking at her apologetically, sobbing with big eyes.

That statement led Brooke and her younger sister, Faith, 8, to collect more than 100 books from their school in San Lorenzo, Del Rey Elementary School, following the fire. Brooke, her mother, sister and father delivered the books last week to the San Bruno Park School District at the PTA president’s council meeting.

Brooke’s efforts to collect books for children affected by the fire show the outpouring of support that continues to come in for the Crestmoor neighborhood following the explosion.

Almost immediately after the fire, donations started coming in from everywhere. Some organized big events to raise money for the fire victims, while others, including Brooke, did their small part to show their compassion for the neighborhood in this quiet Bay Area city that most paid little attention to before.

After Brooke initially got the idea, she and Faith made posters for the book donation drive and hung them up at their school. They even decorated boxes with fanciful wrapping paper and made an announcement at the school’s Back to School night in October.

But the effort languished for months, Roeder said, because they couldn’t get in touch with anyone in San Bruno to accept the donation. So the boxes of books they collected stayed in their garage.

It wasn’t until recently that they were able to contact Marcie Gigena, the president of the San Bruno Park PTA President’s Council, to get the books delivered.

“I was very relieved,” Roeder said. “I know people’s priorities were not on getting books, but when Marcie responded I was really excited. It let me know the girls’ effort were not in vein.”

The president’s council recognized Brooke for her efforts at the meeting by thanking her publicly.

“I was profoundly touched—to think that a little girl from the other side of the Bay realized that children impacted by the Glenview fire probably lost everything, including a book to read,” Gigena said. “Brooke's small effort, in collecting three large boxes full of books, will help many. “