BURNSVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Jenavieve Stroud loves to read.
At 10 years old, Stroud is the youngest volunteer for 21st Century Packhorse Librarian, an organization that has been distributing free books across Western North Carolina as a relief effort from the impact of Hurricane Helene.
Stroud first saddled onto her theoretical packhorse after her mom told her that 21st Century Packhorse Librarian would be making a stop in her hometown of Burnsville, N.C.
“After Hurricane Helene, we had been looking around trying to find something to get our spirits up, and she had found it on social media and thought I would like it,” Stroud said. “On the weeks leading up to it, I was bouncing off the walls so excited for it.”
On the day of the Packhorse Librarian event, Stroud packed up a bundle of books to donate – “Took them back a lot more than that, too,” she added – and spent about an hour and a half pouring over the tables of books to find the ones she liked.
After making her selections, Stroud wanted to thank the organizers of the event.
“Turns out it was Ms. Kirsten,” Stroud explained. “I ended up meeting her and got invited to the Black Mountain event.”
Kirsten Turner is the primary organizer behind 21st Century Packhorse Librarian, which she runs with her husband and a team of other volunteers.
“She is our youngest packhorse librarian,” Turner said about Stroud in an earlier interview. “She went 37 days without power and she read a 250 to 300 page book every single day that they were without power.”
READ MORE ABOUT TURNER AND 21st CENTURY PACKHORSE LIBRARIAN IN OUR STORY HERE.
Stroud, who was carrying a thick installment of the “Warriors” series by Erin Hunter while we were talking, backed up those impressive statistics. She added a few more of her own.
“I have about 300 books and there’s about 200 more that got destroyed, unfortunately,” Stroud said, both elegiac and matter-of-fact. “I’m still trying to restock.”
Stroud’s work at 21st Century Packhorse Librarian has been a great resource for that mission. For her work with the organization, Turner pays Stroud in free books.
The job that Stroud has at the donation sites is a high-octane position, she told me.
“If you’re trying to look at it from a descriptive view, if you’re trying to find me you’ll see me as a green blur running around trying to help people, basically,” Stroud said, proudly wearing her green 21st Century Packhorse Librarian hoodie.
Stroud seeks out books for guests, bags them, carries them and generally tries to make the experience of visitors to the 21st Century Packhorse Librarian tables as seamless as possible. It seemed important to her to connect people to books quickly.
“I like being able to help people who lost a lot of things in Helene by giving them a book that will just carry them away to another world, so that way they can escape all the destruction,” Stroud said. “They can just be in a world where everything is better. Like, they’ll be in a crushed house and they open up a book of ‘Percy Jackson’ and be fighting Greek Olympians. Like that.”
Stroud has other aspirations beyond library science, too. For one, she plays four different sports. For another, she runs a bookmark-making business with a friend; the Wander Wolves Bookmark Business sells their handiwork for $1 apiece and splits the profits. She doesn’t even see herself as a full-time librarian when she’s done with school. Instead, Stroud plans to become Agent Stroud of the CIA or FBI.
However, for now, Stroud is proud to be the youngest 21st Century Packhorse Librarian. The green blur is here to help.
For readers looking for recommendations, Jenavieve Stroud is especially partial to the works of Erin Hunter, Alan Gratz and the “Wings of Fire” series by Tui T. Sutherland.
For more information about 21st Century Packhorse Librarian, visit their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/groups/518245321171056.
