Bob Tomes (far left) and employees along with Brandon Tomes (second from right) and Elena Ford (far right) visited Slaughter Elementary's second graders on Aug. 28 to share books and STEM-focused fun.

McKinney, Texas – Bob Tomes Ford, First Book Foundation, Ford Fund and Elena A. Ford—chief customer experience officer at Ford Motor Company and great-great-granddaughter of Henry Ford—joined forces to bring free books and some STEM-related fun to Slaughter Elementary’s second graders at the end of August.

“First Book and the Ford Fund have been partners for several years now,” said First Book Manager of Strategic Alliances Nina Silverstein, “and our goal is to get books into the hands of kids to help promote educational equity, and we’re especially focused on STEM education. So, this is a wonderful new partnership where we are helping to distribute over 10,000 books in North Texas in the coming weeks and months, and the second of this type of event where we have the opportunity to come to schools and deliver one book per student and do an engineer-focused STEM activity.”

Bob Tomes, his wife Barbara and son Brandon, along with a team of employees from Bob Tomes Ford in McKinney, all read to groups of students a book called “Rosie Revere, Engineer” by Andrea Beaty. The students each received a free copy of their own along with a copy of “Look, I’m a Scientist,” which is filled with engaging science projects for kids.

Elena A. Ford, chief customer experience officer and great-great-granddaughter of Henry Ford, reads “Rosie Revere, Engineer” to second grade students at Slaughter Elementary.

Bob Tomes was thrilled to help make it happen. “It means a great deal,” he said. “I think to have Elena Ford down from Dearborn is just tremendous, and they selected this particular school, Slaughter Elementary, and we’re very fortunate to be so close and handy [to help out].”

After the students concluded their reading time, Ford reps brought out activity kits designed to emphasize basic engineering concepts, and—appropriate to the occasion—the students busied themselves building four-wheeled contraptions, which they sent zipping across the floor of the Slaughter library.

“First of all, I think it’s great for Ford and the Ford dealer here in McKinney, Bob Tomes and his family, to be here today and participate with the school, to read [to the kids] and be able to donate books to the kids and be part of the community,” said Elena Ford. “It’s just critical to learning and literacy.”

Bob Tomes reads to second graders at Slaughter Elementary.

After reading “Rosie Revere, Engineer” to Slaughter second graders, Meredith Cotton of Tomes Auto Group leads them in a STEM focused activity.

Mary Dickerson of Tomes Auto Group reads to a group of second graders at Slaughter.

Slaughter second graders found a variety of ways to have fun with the STEM activity kits.

Slaughter students built cars with their engineering focused activity kits.

Barbara Tomes reads to Slaughter Elementary second graders.

Each second grader at Slaughter received a copy of “Rosie Revere, Engineer” and “Look, I’m a Scientist!”

Slaughter second graders with (l-r) Brandon Tomes, Barbara Tomes, Elena Ford, Bob Tomes and Meredith Cotton.

Slaughter second graders were excited to receive books generously donated by First Books Foundation, Ford Fund and Bob Tomes Ford.

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