'Beads for Books' aids Katrina relief

Through a program she created called Beads for Books, nursing school Professor Lynda Nauright has donated more than 30 boxes of textbooks to Dillard University's nursing school. Many of the New Orleans university's books were destroyed by flood waters.

On Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, Lynda Nauright, professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, got several knocks on her office door. Her Mardi Gras beads are a hot-ticket item that time of year, but Nauright does not just give them away. She barters them for one thing—books.

Last summer, Nauright launched the “Beads for Books” drive to replace some of Dillard University's textbooks destroyed by Hurricane Katrina's waist-deep floodwaters. Dillard is located in the heart of New Orleans where damage was most severe.

“I wanted to do something personal, not just write a check,” Nauright said.

Nauright solicited Emory nursing school faculty and students to donate used textbooks for Dillard's nursing school. Donors brought books and Nauright gave them authentic Mardi Gras beads, donated for the project by a New Orleans businesswoman.

In just a few months, Nauright collected enough textbooks to fill a dozen boxes. She made her first road trip to New Orleans in October to deliver them.

“The Dillard faculty was so appreciative of the donations,” Nauright said. “One of the faculty members was so overcome, she told me, ‘We're so glad you're doing this because we thought everyone had forgotten.'”

Since that visit to the Big Easy last fall, Nauright has added 22 boxes of textbooks to the collection. She's received a range of nursing specialty books—surgical nursing, pharmacology, pediatric nursing, psychology and public health nursing—and plans to make a second trip to drop them off later this spring.

“I didn't think many people would give books, but the generosity has been overwhelming,” Nauright said. “And you can gauge the tremendous level of support by all of the beads on display at the nursing school.”— Ashante Dobbs