Donated children’s books tell a story of continuing support for Sandy recovery

A library at the Jersey Shore that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy is getting some new books from the Library of Congress.

When Sandy swept through Lavallette last year, it damaged more than 1,000 books at the Ocean County Library’s Upper Shores branch.

To help cover that loss, U.S. Rep. Runyan arranged for the donation of about 1,500 extra copies of new books from the Library of Congress.

Many of them are children’s books and the library’s branch manager, June Schneider, says they’re a welcome addition.

“We do have many children within our community here on the northern barrier island who have lost all their personal collections, and there’s really nothing quite as comforting as getting a nice new book to replace those that the children lost,” she said.

Schneider says the book donation is helping to re-energize the community by showing that, more than a year later, there is still support for the recovery from Sandy.