An IT management company partnered again with a nonprofit to bring books and backpacks to students in Jefferson City this week.
Wipro, which operates its Infocrossing facility in Jefferson City, partnered with First Book to donate 500 backpacks and 1,500 books to local students. First Book serves programs for low-income families.
Volunteers built the backpacks Wednesday at Wipro Infocrossing and delivered them Thursday afternoon to the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City and Friday morning to East Elementary School.
"You'd be surprised how many of them just light up when they find out they're going to get a book," Wipro correspondence analyst Julia Owen said Friday as East Elementary students enjoyed the books: Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca's "Dinosaurs Before Dark" in the "Magic Treehouse" series, Joan Holbub and Lynne Avril Cravath's "The Pizza that We Made" and Stan and Jan Berenstain's titular "The Berenstain Bears' Dollars and Sense."
"If you can read, the world is open to you," Owen said.
This was the fifth time Wipro worked with East Elementary, according to a news release.