Last year in 2023, Benton Central Jr & Sr High School bought a new vending machine that offered books to promote reading and literacy among students. The money for this machine did not come from the school itself, but rather from a foundation created and left by the late Jeff Brooks, a sixth-grade teacher from Boswell Elementary.

“He was passionate, He was dedicated, He wanted his students to have an understanding beyond his classroom,” Edie Fisher, the school’s instructional coach, stated in an interview. Jeff Brooks worked at Boswell Elementary for over thirty-nine years and passed away on September 15th, 2019, leaving a foundation for Benton Central to utilize.

“Mr. Jeff Brooks, master teacher, would have loved the idea of a book vending machine,” Gail Lange, writer for The Benton Review, stated when asked for a comment. “Books were important to him; he always carried a book. He read widely about any topic that interested him, including history and sports. Mr. Brooks donated hundreds of books to the Boswell Elementary School Library through the years, many of which were dedicated to the memory of the friends and loved ones of staff and students.”

Jeff Brooks’ love for reading inspired the Benton Central administration to use some of the money for the vending machine. These books are not purchased with US currency but rather exchanged for a special type of token. Every nine weeks, four winners who fill out a corresponding Google form will have a chance to win a token. This form requires students to relate their lives to the story they are reading or have read. The token won by a student is used to dispense a book; allowing students to choose books from renowned authors like Colleen Hoover and Cormac McCarthy.

Jeff Brooks’ legacy as an educator lives on through his foundation, and Benton Central hopes to continue nurturing the literacy of its students as Jeff Brooks would have wanted.