After six years of putting on a neighborhood play in Medina, Sophie Shank and her friends decided they were to old too continue acting in the storybook-inspired plays.

The tradition began in 1999 with her older brother who wanted to find a way to raise money for books to give to school children who otherwise couldn’t afford them. They launched the Kids Helping Kids Book Drive.

Busy schedules put the long-standing neighborhood tradition on hold over the past couple of years, but Sophie still saw a need.

Together with a group of her friends, she decided to gather the little ones in the neighborhood and put on the backyard play once again.

“It was really fun this year to see the same families come back to see the play,” Sophie said. “The younger kids did such a good job and it was neat to see the tradition carry on.”

More than 100 neighbors and community members came to watch the play, The last of the really great Whangdoodles, directed by Sophie and her friends.

The girls used the donations raised from the play to order more than 570 books from Scholastic. The books will be given to school-age children and families at Hopelink’s Bellevue center.

“I think the coolest part of the project is that teens shared their commitment to helping other kids in the community with local elementary school children and got the elementary school kids excited to act in the play and to help others by giving out new books,” Sophie’s mom, Meredith Shank, said.

Sophie and her friends will be handing out books for the Kids Helping Kids Book Drive volunteers at Hopelink’s Bellevue Center on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and on Thursday, Aug. 27, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.

To learn more about Hopelink, visit www.hope-link.org or http://youthlink.hope-link.org/.