Through May 6th, Lerdal is looking to collect thousands of books, which will then be donated to the South Dakota Department of Health and South Dakota GearUp. These agencies then distribute the books to countless children throughout the state.

Lerdal says, "I just started the drive asking for gently used or new children's books and the city came out in full force. I was hoping for 500, the first year I got 7,000 books. That kind of set us on a course where we get six or seven thousand, maybe even 10,000 books a year. And by the time the year is over, the groups that I help or that get these books, they need more books."

If you have any new or gently-used children's books around, donations are being accepted at the Dahl Arts Center, the Rapid City Public Library and Books A Million.

For more information on the drive, you can visit www.Readatrics.com.

Lerdal says ideally she would like to turn this into a national campaign one day.

Zach Nugent