‘Stories for Sara’ book drive nets 251 new books for library

Community members opened their hearts and their pocketbooks during a month-long book drive held in September to honor the brief life of Sara Kate Mason, a baby who died of a rare heart defect after only five days of life. Her parents, Reid and Kristen Mason of Cowley, came up with the idea of a children’s book drive as a way to honor Sara’s short life. She would have been celebrating her second birthday in September. The Masons also have four other children: Clark, 11, Jack, 9, Connor, 7, and Rhett, 4.Kristen said having the book drive helped the entire family deal with the grief of losing their loved one.“This is something that is part of our family,” said Kristen. “It’s something we talk about and deal with on a regular basis.”The public donated 251 new children’s books in Sara Kate’s memory during the drive through a wish list posted on Amazon.com. All of the books were high quality hardcover books donated to the Lovell Library.According to Kristen, the family worked with the library in advance to create the list. She said the first wish list supplied by the library was filled very quickly, along with a second list and more.[caption id="attachment_11825" align="alignright" width="300"] The Mason family (l-r) Jack, Kristen, Rhett (on mom’s lap), Reid, Clark and Connor hosted a book drive to honor the short life of their loved one, Sara Kate, who died of a rare heart defect only five days after her birth.
Patti Carpenter photo[/caption]All books that were purchased through the book drive are marked with a special label stating that the book was donated in memory of Sara Kate, along with a website address for more information about her.Kristen said books were delivered almost daily throughout the month of September. At the end of the drive, the entire lot of books was delivered to the library.“Getting the books every day was like Christmas every day,” said Kristen. “Having the UPS man show up almost every day with books made a month that could have been filled with sadness bright for us.”Sara was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at birth (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and Atrioventricular Septal Defect) after being born eight weeks early. Sadly, she was too small at only 4 pounds and her lungs were too underdeveloped to have the type of surgery that could remedy her condition.Congenital heart defects occur in one out of 100 births and are the leading cause of infant deaths. A Congenital Heart Defect (or CHD) is an abnormality of the heart that presents at birth. In general, there is no known cause or cure for CHDs.The family plans to host future book drives, with various libraries as the recipients of the donations.“Our family has always utilized the local library and we read a lot as a family,” said Kristen. “Being able to do this for our local library was very fulfilling for us.”“Lots of people experience losses,” added Clark, the oldest of the four children. “We wanted to do this for them, too.”“When the Lovell Library has enough books, we’ll just donate to another library,” said Kristen. “I think this is something we will continue doing for some time.”

By Patti Carpenter