Melina Megaridis had a novel idea. Her inspiration added 3,000 biographies, histories, fiction and mysteries to the shelves at Willowbrook Corner. A book drive, organized by the altruistic 11-year-old, began a new chapter in the lives of the children who frequent the community center at 16 W. 610 Honeysuckle Rose Lane.

The After School Club at Willowbrook Corner serves children affiliated with Anne M. Jeans Elementary School. Volunteers assist low-income students with homework, reading, life skills, arts, crafts and recreational activities.

While contemplating the bountiful book collection at her house, Melina, a fifth-grader at Maerker Elementary School in Westmont, felt a deep desire to share.

“I had many books, and I knew some kids didn’t have any. And I wanted to give them a chance to read. I thought that if each person at my school donated one book, that would be a lot of books,” Melina said.

However, Melina’s marvelous idea proved to be a daunting task.

“The hardest part was organizing the whole project,” she said.

So Melina approached her mother, Crystal. Together they formulated a plan.

“Melina talked with me about the book drive, and we didn’t know what to do. At first, I thought we’d get books together for the Friends of Indian Prairie Library. But then we spoke with the library director, Jamie Bukovac, who suggested that we collect books for Willowbrook Corner,” Crystal said.

To promote the book drive, library publicist Chris Cigler worked with Melina to make flyers, which were distributed to the students at Maerker School.

“Chris came up with a great idea for the flyers. The class that collected the most books would get a prize to inspire more book giving,” Crystal said.

When Melina contacted the Frugal Muse of Darien, it donated several boxes of books to Willowbrook Corner. After the book drive, volunteers from the library’s Teen Advisory Board sorted through all of the books.

After all the books were counted, sorted and shelved, Melina and Crystal expressed their delight over the outcome of the project.

“I feel wonderful for those kids. They got about 3,000 books,” Melina said.

“It was so exciting because Melina actually thought of the book drive herself. A light bulb went off,” Crystal said. “For me, the best part of the book drive was that my daughter wanted to do something philanthropic, so I had to make it work.”