‘A way to keep him alive’
Stamford parents undertake mitzvah project to honor their late son
STAMFORD — This past week would have been a busy one for Emmet Manheim, as he prepared to celebrate his bar mitzvah this weekend.
But the Stamford boy never made it to 13 years of age. A rare blood disease took his life in 2019 at the age of 10.
In preparation for his Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, Emmet would have spent the last few weeks and months doing a mitzvah project, as a way to give back to the community by doing something he was passionate about.
He didn’t get the chance to do that, so his family is doing it for him. Emmet’s parents, Lisa Manheim and Jeff Manheim, decided to do a book drive in their late son’s honor.
They chose the book drive because of Emmet’s love of reading. On the website dedicated to Emmet’s book drive, Lisa Manheim wrote that she would often find her son, who went to Stark Elementary School, reading late at night, laughing under the covers to book series such as “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”
Some of her favorite memories with Emmet were laughing together
while reading Roald Dahl’s “The BFG.”
Lisa Manheim started a gift page on Amazon.com and loaded it up with over 300 books that people could choose to purchase and donate. Among them are a collection of the “Wimpy Kid” series of books, as well as “The BFG.”
The goal was to collect 1,300 books and deliver them to Stamford’s 13 public elementary schools.
But their son’s story would quickly travel across
social media, resulting in complete strangers contributing to the growing campaign.
“It became something bigger than I thought it was going to be,” she said.
One day after putting an announcement on social media about the book drive, Lisa Manheim said about 30 Amazon boxes arrived at her door. The following day, it was 300. And the boxes just kept coming.
“We became friends with the Amazon driver,” she said.
She estimated that people have donated nearly 5,000
books so far, and counting. Her garage was filled with about 2,000 boxes, she said earlier this week.
The books will go to to third-, fourth-, and fifthgrade classrooms across all the elementary schools in Stamford. And each one will include a label inside that will say it was donated in Emmet’s memory.
“To us, that’s a way for us to keep him alive,” Lisa said.
About 75 people volunteered to sort, organize and label the books for delivery on Sunday at Temple Beth El in Stamford. Members of
Emmet’s old baseball team, the Stamford Bombers, will help.
One of those players is Elliot Nerenberg, who met Emmet when they were both in preschool. The two were great friends, and loved to watch “The Simpsons” together and play video games.
“It didn’t mater what it was, it just mattered that we were together,” he said.
Elliot visited Emmet when he was in the hospital toward the end of his life.
“I will never forget it,” Elliot said. “We got to pretend like nothing ever happened
for that one day.”
He expects this weekend will be emotional, but Elliot said the book drive is a way to remember his friend.
“I think we just have to honor him in any way possible,” Elliot said.
The book drive may become a yearly effort, Lisa Manheim said. An English teacher in Mamaroneck, N.Y., she is a big proponent of books in classrooms, which she said is one of the reasons she decided to take on the task.
“Every kid should have more access to books,” said Lisa, who is pregnant and awaiting a baby in about four weeks.
In addition to the books, Lisa Manheim said also received many heartfelt messages from parents, including many from parents with sons who are having their own bar mitzvahs and want to include Emmet in their speeches, as well as donate in his memory.
“To feel the love and compassion of people we don’t even know and sharing their most special day, and sharing it with Emmett and sharing it with us, it makes us feel great about the world,” she said.