Courtesy Photo Kiara Grochowski and Makayla Grochowski pose with boxes of children’s books to be sent to Ukraine.

ALPENA — A group of local students have collected 1,548 children’s books in just one week to be sent to Ukraine to help those youngsters learn English.

Immanuel Lutheran School in Alpena recently held a book drive as a competition among classes, and the first- and second-grade class that won collected 525 books and earned an ice cream social.

The school coordinated with Rogers City man Boyd Byelich, who heads up One Box for Ukraine, collecting and taking necessities to those in need. He will take the books to the war-torn country on his next trip.

“He mentioned in his presentation that they requested books in English so they can learn the English language,” said Immanuel Lutheran School Principal Alecia Dietz. “So, he put it out there, and I said, ‘Hey, we can do it!’ So we held a book drive the following week.”

Byelich attended the ice cream social and collected the books at that time. The students had previously participated in a toy drive Byelich headed up for Ukrainian children.

“Last fall we had an initiative to collect toys for kids in Ukraine,” Byelich wrote on the One Box for Ukraine Facebook page. “Many people helped with this, including Immanuel Lutheran School. They had asked for pictures of kids receiving these gifts and a couple weeks ago I was able to show them our Christmas journeys into Ukraine. Then they ask what else can they do and I said that many places ask me for books written in English so they had a book drive competition at their school.”

He added that he was grateful for the “amazing support from these kids and teachers.”

“My kids loved it,” Dietz said of the students. “They had so much fun doing it … I think it’s really important for them because we’re such a small, rural community, to show them that they can make a huge difference in another country and impact others’ lives through stewardship.”