On a cool, arid Thursday afternoon, the Rolling Thunder Book Bus delivered high-fives, bookmarks, wristbands and the book of choice for 65 second- and third- grade students at the Catholic School of St. Eugene in Oklahoma City. Amid the initial trepidation from such an unexpected visit as the school day winds down, the students burst into excitement upon boarding the bus and spotting Thunder players Jeremy Lamb and Nick Collison.
“Just picking out some books with second-graders. They’re real excited,” Lamb said. “You can hear them now really excited about getting books.”
Equaling the excitement of the event, Principal Cassie Herd beamed as she watch the students blithefully interact with the players while selecting their books inside the bus.
“I think it’s really important for the kids to see that players and people that are famous are able to just reach out to the community and do community service and help kids.” Herd said.
“(We’re) trying to promote reading and I think the kids think the bus is cool,” Collison said. “So we want to make it a fun thing so kids enjoy reading in their free time.”
After their classmates exited the bus, the next wave of students rushed to climb the steps to be greeted by high-fives from Lamb. This scene would be replayed throughout the visit.
“We always try to give back and let kids know that reading is important.” Lamb said.
The Rolling Thunder Book Bus is presented by American Fidelity Assurance Company. Since its debut in 2009, the colorful bus has distributed more than 97,000 free books to kids.