Some of the students sleep in their cars. Others are forced to parent themselves and still suffer from depression and post-traumatic stress related to Hurricane Katrina.

In a city in which rebuilding structures and lives is an ongoing struggle, restoring school libraries does not get top billing. But a group of four Skaneateles women is trying to change that.

In an effort to put a book in the hands of hundreds of children in New Orleans, these women are collecting gently used and new books for Benjamin Banneker Elementary School and Walter Cohen High School. Just three weeks after kicking off this campaign, they are overwhelmed with the generosity of local residents, as boxes and bags of books continue to be dropped off at area schools and other locations.

“I think we all knew it would be huge because this community just gives and gives and gives,” said drive co-organizer Stacey Drake, who herself had moved from New Orleans to Skaneateles just five weeks before Katrina hit.

The idea for Books for Banneker originated in March, after Suzanne Ryan read an e-mail with a listing of New Orleans schools in need of books.

“I said, 'Oh my gosh, have I got books!' ” recalled Ryan, who taught for 32 years in Marcellus and is now an educational consultant.

So Ryan packed up 10 boxes worth and headed over to the Skaneateles Post Office. At the end of the long line that had developed behind her was friend Kate Cogswell, who asked Ryan what she was doing with all of those books.

Cogswell, president of the Skaneateles Library board of directors, connected Ryan with head librarian De Ann Porter. Soon Drake became involved, and the women went in search of a school in the New Orleans Recovery School District that was in need of books - and not getting the media attention or grants that many others were receiving.

The women called the principals of the different schools to see who wanted and could accept the books. “We didn't want them to end up in a warehouse,” Porter said.

After talking with Cheryllyn Branche, principal of Benjamin Banneker Elementary School, Ryan knew that the group had found its match, and Branche too felt as though she and Ryan were kindred spirits.

Benjamin Banneker has 460 students in grades pre-K through eight. Ninety-eight percent of students are African-American (the school itself is in a fairly affluent area but the white children attend private and charter schools, Branche said), and more than 98 percent are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The majority of the school year, students have had to eat cold - and sometimes almost frozen - food, Branche said, as the old kitchen wasn't up to code when it reopened.

And because so few public schools have reopened, 90 percent of students are bused in from outside the area, said Branche, who has been principal for four years.

The school received 3,500 books from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after it reopened in April of 2006 and has since had other books and items given as donations, Branche said. But compare that to 23,000 books at Waterman and State Street elementary schools, and the difference is marked, Porter said.

When Ryan asked about older students, Branche recommended the Walter Cohen High School.

“She felt they were the neediest because they were just opening,” Drake said.

The books will go to the schools' classrooms and library, and students will be given some to take home.

Receiving the resources they need will be “monumental” for the school's students and teachers, Branche said, and having classroom libraries will allow the children to develop their skills as independent thinkers and learners.

All four Skaneateles women commented on how grateful the schools that they talked with were to hear from people outside the city.

“When I ran into Suzie, I thought things were better in New Orleans. I had no idea (of) the devastation,” Cogswell said, referring to the fact that people are still living in trailers and other unacceptable conditions.

Branche said that the conditions her students are living in are deplorable and that she is enthusiastic and touched by all that Skaneateles is doing.

“The displacement of families has put a great deal of stress on families. That includes staff as well as students,” Branche said, noting that when she leaves her office, the teachers of the first three classrooms she passes are living in trailers. “It's horrendous, and they're (students) very angry. They're very distraught.”

“It's a tragedy of epic proportions,” she added.

Skaneateles' book drive will conclude on Friday, June 29, after which time organizers and volunteers will begin sorting the hundreds of books.

“If you just send books down there...they don't have the manpower to get them out themselves,” Drake explained.

The works will be sorted by Newbery award-winners, easy readers, those with enough copies to provide a classroom set of books and other categories. Organizers stress that the books donated should be in very good condition, as they don't want the students to feel like they're being given secondhand materials.

Now the question is not if organizers will receive books from the community, but how to get all those books to New Orleans. Because books are so heavy, shipping will cost more than $1,000, Ryan said, noting that the women are looking for benefactors to come forward with monetary contributions or volunteers willing to drive the books down there.

“We have faith,” Drake said. “If worse comes to worse, we would just hook up the trailer and go.”

The women said that they have seriously contemplated driving the books down themselves. But either way, they are confident Branche and her students will soon receive a delivery.

“We really think it's meant to be,” Porter said.