MISSOULA — The gym at the old Cold Spring Elementary School in Missoula was filled with 45,000 books for families, students and educators on Tuesday — and they all could be had for free.
The Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and First Book partnered to put on the event celebrating the freedom of Montana's students to learn in public schools.
Educators were able to pick up 50 free books for their classrooms.
There were also thousands of books written by Indigenous authors and books featuring Indigenous stories.
“This is a continuation of work we've been doing for the past year. We've given away about $30,000 of books across the state mainly focusing on Indigenous language and culture,” MFPE President Amanda Curtis told MTN. “We've put those books in homes, in classrooms and in libraries and in child and family services offices. We've got a great record with first book to give these books away.”
ATF has already given away over 10 million books.
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