The Oregon Trail Library District, along with several others across Umatilla and Morrow County, received hundreds of new books and thousands of face masks last week from Walmart Distribution Center in Hermiston.

BOARDMAN — When Kathy Street opened the new boxes at Boardman’s Oregon Trail Library, she said it felt like Christmas.

The library, along with several others across Umatilla and Morrow counties, received hundreds of new books and thousands of face masks recently from Walmart Distribution Center in Hermiston.

The occasion? So far as Street and Stanfield Library Director Cecili Longhorn could tell, there wasn’t one.

“It was totally random,” Street, the director for the Oregon Trail Library District in Morrow County, said, adding that Walmart officials gave little indication of what the donations would look like.

Now, Street and Longhorn are working with local agencies to distribute the masks and books out to the community.

Street said the library received three pallets with 800 packages of masks. That’s 2,400 packs of masks for residents, with each pack holding five reusable cloth masks.

Street said the library is providing masks to local food pantries Boardman, Irrigon and Heppner. They will also be working with the health department and the Boardman Chamber of Commerce to distribute masks out to the community, she said.

Street said the books will be used in a variety of efforts for kids, including the Summer Reading Program, but added that the donation also held books for adults.

After receiving over 600 packs of masks on Feb. 3, Longhorn and the Stanfield Library held a “free mask Friday” where they handed out masks to community members. By the time the event was over, Longhorn called the school district to bring 280 packs to students, just in time for in-person classes to start at the local high school and junior high school next week.

“It’s so nice to be able to do that for people,” Longhorn said. “Even though we all have masks piling up around our cars and stuff, it’s nice to have stuff like that. It’s something you need right now.”

But students aren’t the only ones getting new masks from the library. Longhorn said that staff are continuing to provide masks to a steady stream of visitors who come in to drop off books.

“Parents aren’t used to getting free things,” Longhorn said. “Usually it’s just the kids we’re giving stuff to. So how cool is it that we can give it to the parents too.”

Longhorn said the library received so many books that it is difficult to estimate how many there are. Videos posted to the library’s Facebook page show multiple tables covered in stacks of new children’s books spanning across a room.

“People donate books all the time to libraries — things they no longer want or need,” Longhorn said. “But to donate how many Walmart did, that was pretty amazing.”