Airmen organize, distribute books to less fortunate Published Oct. 24, 2013 By Mark Wyatt 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Two Airmen with a cumulative time in service of 25 months recently organized a book drive for two Boston-based charitable youth organizations. Airman Kara Watts and Airman Jonathan Watts, who married in March 2012 and have been in the Air Force for 10 months and 15 months respectively, collected more than 1,700 books during the drive that ran from Aug. 28 to Oct. 5. The 19-year old Airmen selected Boston Children's Hospital and Bridge Over Troubled Waters, an organization dedicated to assisting runaway, homeless and high-risk youth, as recipients of the donated books. "When we first arrived at Hanscom, we wanted to get involved in the community," said Airman Kara Watts, a knowledge operations manager for the Battle Management Directorate. "Growing up both of us really enjoyed reading books, so it made sense that we use books as a way for young people to deal with the adversity they are facing, whether it's health or some other challenging circumstance." When they arrived at Hanscom in December 2012, only Airman (Jonathan) Watts, a paralegal in the 66th Air Base Group Legal Office, was in the Air Force. His wife left for basic training soon after and arrived back here after completing basic training and technical training last spring. Throughout this past summer, the newlyweds looked for ways to get involved in the community. "We talked to our supervisors and asked if there was anything special that we needed to do to make this book drive a reality," said (Kara) Watts. "We drafted an email asking for help to organize it and the response was overwhelming. We received more than 20 responses the first few days. We could not have accomplished what we did without all of the incredible volunteers." Once the committee was formed, the two junior enlisted members went to work with volunteers. "Along with volunteers, they came up with what they wanted to do, organized it, decorated collection boxes and then executed it by placing the boxes in buildings across Hanscom," said (Jonathan) Watts. "After Oct. 5, we all met and organized the books in age appropriate piles and five of us delivered them to Children's Hospital and Bridge Over Troubled Water." The book drive even garnered a food donation to a local food shelter. "A volunteer actually dropped a box off at a local grocery store to collect more books, but what we got instead was a box full of nonperishable food items that was donated to a local food shelter," said (Jonathan) Watts. The two Airmen delivered the books to each organization and were met by appreciation for the efforts they put into this. "It makes me feel really good about what we have done," said (Kara) Watts. "I've been in the hospital before and enjoyed reading books to help get me through it. Many of these children are going through much worse circumstances than I did." Soon after the drive began, (Jonathan) Watts broke his leg during physical fitness training and appreciates how books can play an important role during recovery. "I broke my leg Aug. 29 and had surgery and was placed on bed rest and reading helped occupy my time; I know how important it was to my recovery," said (Jonathan) Watts. "It's nice to be able to provide that to those who really need it." The young Airmen say they fully understand that the success of this drive would not have been possible without the generosity of Team Hanscom and without the volunteers who placed more than 20 boxes around base and delivered the books to the two organizations. "People on Hanscom were very generous in donating books," said (Kara) Watts. "Never did we anticipate collecting 1,746 books. It really was pretty overwhelming." Both agreed that it was a lot of fun and are looking forward to organizing another drive to help those that are less fortunate. "It was a lot of fun bringing people together for a good cause and it is something we definitely want do again," said (Kara) Watts.