Meet Tom Barreto. What an amazing man!

Every year during the December holiday season the Brick Barnes & Noble holds a book drive to donate books to children in need. This year the store's book drive was held for the Brick Police Athletic League (P.A.L.)

But one man really went above and beyond to help. Tom Barreto, a barber at the Ocean Road and Bridge Ave. barber shops in Point Pleasant wanted to do something to give back to the community.

So he decided to put up collection containers at his barber shops to collect money from his customers that would be used to purchase books at Barnes & Noble. These books would then be donated to the Brick P.A.L.

And if that wasn't enough, Tom and his manager decided that they would each match the amount collected out of their own pockets.

On Dec. 23rd, Tom and his manager came to the Brick Barnes & Noble with their collection money and spent around 3 hours shopping for the books to purchase for the book drive. (I love that they personally and thoughtfully picked out the books for the kids.)

They were able to buy 364 books with around $4,000, all for the Brick P.A.L. (They had collected $1357 from customers and then Tom and his manager each matched that!)

Here is a photo that just warms my heart of Tom and his stack of books.

Thank you Tom, for doing something so selfless without ever being asked. You have such a good heart. Please extend a big thank you to your manager, too, for her support and help, as well as all of the customers who dropped money in those jars to help. It's so wonderful to know there are such caring people here at the Jersey Shore.

I would personally also like to thank Michael Benci, the store manager at the Barnes & Noble in Brick. He really cares about our community and I am happy to support that store in any way that I can thanks to his great management. He is friendly and so helpful to all of the customers and has gone above and beyond to host events to help the residents of the Jersey Shore. He sets a great example about how to show love and support for the community you work in.

To see what's coming up at the Brick Barnes & Noble, CLICK HERE.