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Utah boy gets thousands of books after mailman posts Facebook plea

"I started reading at a very early age. My mother instilled a love of books in me," said postal worker Ron Lynch.
/ Source: TODAY

With the help of social media, a mailman helped one wish come true for a young boy.

Ron Lynch, a postal worker from Utah, was delivering mail when he saw 12-year-old Matthew Flores searching for newsletters and advertisements out of the junk mail bin.

Flores told Lynch of his interest in reading, “plus, it gets you smarter,” according to Salt Lake City's NBC affiliate KSL.

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The pair began conversing and Flores told the postman that he chooses to read advertisements because his family does not have books of their own. Lynch then asked if he had ever been to the library. He responded by saying that bus fares made it too hard to get to the library.

Being a fellow book lover himself, Lynch was immediately inspired to help the young reader.

"I started reading at a very early age. My mother instilled a love of books in me," Lynch said. "At 12 years old, he didn't want electronics, he didn't want to sit in front of the TV playing games all day, the kid just wanted to read."

Lynch decided to do something about it. He put a picture of Flores on his Facebook page asking for help. He hoped his network of friends would see the post and have books they’d be willing to spare.

"I was given many books as a child, and it's time to help someone else," Lynch wrote. "Please share and let's get him tons of reading material! Most kids his age want electronics! It's great to see his desire, and you should have seen him beam when I said I could help!"

Not after long, the post went viral and influxes of books were sent from around the world to help the cause.

“I’ve heard from the U.K., from Australia, from India,” Lynch said, shocked at the response. "It's gone crazy."

Flores, who once resorted to reading newspapers, suddenly has thousands of books to choose from. And he wants to read every single one.

"I'm just super happy," Flores said about his new book collection.