VINCENT – A donation of more than 1,000 books to Vincent Elementary School will help encourage reading at the school and when students are away during the summer.

The books, 1,170 of them, were donated by the Tyler Rutledge State Farm agency in Chelsea after a recent book drive.

“They have done an incredible thing for us,” VES Media Specialist Steven McClendon said.

The agency serves many people in the Vincent area, Rutledge said.

Co-workers Kyle Davis and Mikayla Rodda joined Rutledge for the presentation on Friday, May 4.

The books were collected in about two weeks. The agency announced the drive on social media and to local businesses.

“They just started coming in droves,” Rutledge said. “We were hoping for 100-200 books, and what happened was pretty incredible.

“We hope these books will have a positive impact on your lives.”

An individual donor, who was a former teacher at Vincent, donated about 600 books, Rutledge said.

“When people see people trying to help people, it’s contagious,” he said.

VES Principal Tonya Borden-Hudson said the books will be placed in the school library and classroom libraries, and will be part of a summer reading initiative.

“We always can use books,” Borden-Hudson said. “Reading is the basic foundation for all other subjects. We’re just very thankful they reached out to us.”