The old adage has it that "There’s no such thing as a free lunch." In June, however, the Archer Street School in Freeport, with the help of an 11 year old sixth-grader, showed that there is, indeed, such as thing as free books.

As part of her bat mitzvah—the occasion in the Jewish religion when a girl turns 13—Stephanie Stein of the Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway decided to perform community service by donating books to Archer Street elementary school children. Writing to publishers and authors for donations, she obtained more than 1,800 books and on June 17, delivered all the books to the school for distribution.

"Stephanie has been coming to our class since the beginning of the term," said second grade teacher Gwen Garland. "She reads to the children and talks to them every Friday afternoon."

Originally, Stephanie had planned simply to donate books to the class she was visiting. As the donations began to pile up, however, she realized she could expand her vision.

"I had so many books I realized that every student in the school could receive a book or even more than one book," she said.

In fact, with Archer Street serving approximately 600 students, many of the young readers were able to walk home with three or four books each.

Stephanie said that the books continue to come in and she will use them in the program she intends to continue in the new school year.