They come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Some are big, some are small, some are purple, and some are green. To Lynda Nauright, EdD, RN, a professor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in Atlanta, every strand of Mardi Gras beads is worth the same thing–a nursing book.

“It’s been a busy time for the bead trade,” Nauright says with a laugh about Mardi Gras season. “There have been a lot of people coming by for beads.”

And she’s more than happy to give them out. Nauright, who has taught at Emory for 29 years, has handed out hundreds of strands of colorful beads in return for donations of nursing textbooks in the past several months as part of a drive to help rebuild the nursing department at New Orleans’ Dillard University after Hurricane Katrina. The Dillard campus, which sits close to the lower levee breach of the London Avenue Canal, was covered by several feet of salt water for weeks after the 2005 disaster, Nauright says. Classes were held in hotels during the spring semester last year, and things are still far from normal in the area.

“There’s still devastation,” Nauright says. “There’s still mass destruction as far as you can see.”

Last summer, with Katrina quickly falling out of the country’s headlines, Nauright decided to do something about it. “I wanted to do something personal,” she says. She decided one way she could help was by donating textbooks to the Dillard students. She started the book drive and collected 12 boxes of nursing texts donated by faculty and students before heading down to the Big Easy in October. There, over dinner with some friends, the idea of “beads for books” took shape as a way to draw attention to her idea.

The result? In a few short months, Nauright has already collected 22 boxes of nursing books. New books or used books, she trades beads for every one.

“I expected to get books, but I didn’t expect to get as many as I have,” she says. “Everybody has just been incredibly generous. I’ve been humbled by it. Almost everyday someone comes by and drops off a book.”

Nauright plans to make her next trip to New Orleans–where she went to college at Louisiana State University and later lived for a few years–in the spring, and she expects the response to be similar to that of her first visit.

“One [Dillard] faculty member teared up,” she says. “They are very appreciative.”

Nauright also went down with a financial donation, as those outside the nursing world also wanted to help. Individual donations have continued to spring up this time around, as well. “One staff member here came up and said ‘I’m not a nurse, I don’t have any books, but here’s $20,’” Nauright says. “People just really want to help.”

Nauright says she doesn’t see an end in sight for the project. In fact, the opposite is more likely. “The undergraduate student nurses association here wants to get this going as a service project,” Nauright says. “It may take on a life of its own. Dillard may end up begging me to stop.”

In the meantime, Nauright will continue to collect books and hand out beads.

“It’s been very rewarding,” she says. “It really has. I’ve been so touched with how caring people are.”

Editor’s Note: You can help, too. Email Nauright at lnaurig@emory.edu and find out how you can donate to the project.