As an energetic group of her classmates boisterously load a white panel van with boxes of books, third-grader Eliana Wax is clear on why she’s enjoying today’s activity.

“We hope that they’ll feel happy and glad that people they didn’t even know are sending them books all the way from St. Louis,” said the 9-year-old. “Helping other kids is what I would want somebody to do for me.”

That was a common sentiment among students at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School as more than 3,100 books were sent on their way Monday morning to help Beth Yeshurun, a congregation and day school in Houston which was hit hard by floodwaters in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The entire third-grade class of 28 children spearheaded the effort and students of all grade levels made donations.

Andrea Newstead, director of technology, said part of the student-driven initiative came about when a friend of hers who had a daughter at the Texas school told her its first floor had been flooded. The Mirowitz children looked around their own classroom and tried to determine what might have been damaged at their counterparts’ school. The resulting idea was a book collection with both new and used books being corralled for the drive. The Brodsky Library also gave some volumes.

“We thought we would just come up with a few hundred books here at Mirowitz but they’ve totally outdone themselves,” Newstead said.

Students like Wax set to work on the project eagerly.

“I would probably feel really sad if our school got flooded and didn’t have books so I was sure that they would too,” said the University City girl.

Eight-year-old Calvino Hammerman of Frontenac had a similar thought.

“My learning would be cut off because books really are the most important thing in a school,” he said.

He began making flyers to publicize the drive and also participated in counting and stacking the books. He said it felt good to help out.

“I’ve been hearing a lot on the radio and I’ve been thinking, ‘Man, what can I do?’” he said.

Olivette 8-year-old Leann Krechely happily donated books she’d read when in kindergarten.

“That school is much like our school and we wouldn’t feel really good if our school didn’t have any books,” she said.

Some Mirowitz students went even further. Second-grader Dahlia Goldstein-Larocco of St. Louis County put together a fundraising effort including a tzedakah box in the school office and a video on social media. The initiative ultimately brought in $2,200 for the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston in addition to shoes, socks, diapers, underwear and other necessities.

“It’s good to help people,” said the 7-year-old. “I like helping people because they are homeless and have no food or water. It’s very important to me.”

Her mother, Traci Goldstein, also felt it was pretty important.

“It makes me optimistic, especially where we’re sitting today, knowing we have great future leaders in this world that can make it a better place,” she said. “It makes me feel good that my daughter understands that we have to have our fellow human beings’ backs.”

She also said she was grateful to Mirowitz which she felt had empowered her daughter to make her good intentions into reality.

“You always want your kids to do great things in this world,” she said. “Now, she’s got a head start.”

Head of school Cheryl Maayan agreed, saying that was part of the school’s philosophy.

“The students come to us with ideas of what they think the world should be like or what they think should happen,” she said. “Rather than saying, ‘Oh, okay, we’ll take care of that,’ we put it back in their hands. We give them just enough scaffolding so that they are the ones who are really making the difference.”

It wasn’t just the children getting to make a difference. Jewish Community Center day camp director Brad “Chots” Chotiner volunteered to drive the rented van down to Texas. It was especially appealing duty since he grew up in Houston. In fact, he just happened to be bar mitzvahed at Congregation Beth Yeshurun.

“I was looking to do something to help out and when Cheryl told me they had raised all the books, I said I was happy to drive them down for the school,” he said. “It’s a way to both help out Mirowitz and help out my hometown.”

By mid-morning, the books were loaded and Maayan assembled the kids in front of the van to tell them what a difference they’d made.

“Like I’m always telling you guys, you didn’t just have the idea, you did something about it,” she said.