Brandon Keefe

Brandon Keefe (myhero.com)

Some people might think a hero is someone who has to save someone’s life or save a cat from burning tree or have super powers. Not to me. To me, a hero is someone that is loyal, brave, and caring.

My hero is Brandon Keefe. He was an ordinary boy who did something great for community. When he was at the Hollygrove Children’s Home, a local orphanage, he overheard his mom talking to a worker who was saying that they had an extra room for a library yet they didn’t have enough money to build a library. The next day, while he was in class, his teacher told him to start thinking about community service projects. When he started thinking, he remembered what the worker had said about the children not having books and how they wanted a library. As soon as he remembered, he decided he was going to try to get as many books as he could and give the orphanage a library.

When Brandon told his friends about the idea, they liked it. He and his friends collected as many books as they could and when they got 847 books, retired librarians volunteered to mark the books and the local Rotary club donated shelves, tables, and chairs. They all convened and made the Hollygrove Children’s Home their very own library. The children now could have books to read. When Brandon entered 7th grade at Chaminade Middle School, he needed to think of a community service project and yet again he thought of the book drive. To make it known, he hung up posters, made announcements, and also made signs with paper bags attached to them. Soon enough, they had collected 5,000 books. The orphanage didn’t have enough room for that many books so he had to find somewhere else to put them. Limerick Elementary School had a shortage of books. Instead of books, they had pine cones so what he did with the remaining books is he donated them to the school. Brandon’s principal realized how effective a simple thing was and started telling everyone in the Los Angeles School District.

The next day, Brandon was surprised when all of a sudden, a photographer asked to take his picture for the Los Angeles Times. After the paper ran, he won several community awards. Later, he was asked to be appeared on ‘Oprah’.

On www.myhero.com, I found this paragraph with what Brandon thought about being there. "I was with these other kids who were doing amazing things," Brandon says of the experience. "One kid took a bullet for a friend, another kid had organized a huge anti-tobacco lobbying campaign. A third, Craig Kielburger, started an international organization to make schools in third world countries and had met almost every major world leader there is, and written a book by the age of 18. How did I get in this group? I just collected books. I felt really humbled." After he had appeared on ‘Oprah’, he won more awards and was able to appear on more television talk shows. Because of all the publicity ‘Oprah’ had given him, people were calling him and asking him how to set up book drives or how to donate money. Since so many people were trying to help, he was able to open a nonprofit organization called BookEnds. The big corporations donated money. With that, they could be able to take the next level with BookEnds.

Brandon’s mother was very supportive from the beginning of it all. When BookEnds was starting to grow, she incorporated an Advisory Board for BookEnds. Brandon said, “With every $1 given to BookEnds we can put $6 on a barren shelf”. By 2001, they had 60,000 volunteers across America and collected about 150,000 books for BookEnds. BookEnds had completed 45-46 libraries and 32 more under construction. Brandon and his Mom assume that they helped more than 40,000 kids who didn’t have books before. Brandon helps people start their own book drives.

In conclusion, Brandon was kind by giving books to children who didn’t have them. He was a good person and inspires me to do good things in my community. Brandon used to hate reading until he saw the faces of the kids when he gave those kids books and now he can’t stop reading. The website for BookEnds is maintained by Brandon and his friends. Brandon says, "My heroes are the ones who understand there's a need and really take action to eradicate the problem instead of just sitting back and thinking about it. It's one thing to put a quarter in a box for Africa and another to deliver something to someone in need." Brandon is a true hero.