On Wednesday, May 10, students at Drexel Elementary School got the surprise of the spring when more than 1,000 books were donated to the school for students of all ages.

The donation was the brainchild of Hinsdale resident Joey Nicosia, a fifth grader at Oak Elementary School in Community Consolidated School District 181.

Earlier this year, Joey, who loves reading, teamed up with his mother, Corrine Nicosia, who has a passion for community outreach, and the two put their minds together and conceived the idea of running a book fair in their neighborhood to give away to other kids in the Chicagoland area who also share a love for literacy.

After hosting a book fair in which the Nicosias collected new and gently used books, they ended up collecting around 2,500 books.

So, how did they decide upon Drexel in Cicero? Easy! Well, sort of.

The Nicosias needed assistance in finding students and a school to donate the books to, so they connected with Oak School’s principal, Effey Nassis, who then got in touch with District 181’s superintendent, Dr. Hector Garcia. Garcia, who previously worked in Cicero at Morton East High School, reached out to his former Morton colleague, Dr. Luis Illa, now the principal at Drexel.

Thanks to that friendship forged years ago at Morton East, 440 students at Drexel had the opportunity to attend a popup book fair in the school’s gym and go on a “shopping spree” — taking home as many books as they could carry!