16-year-old Mackenzie escapes from severe pain through the reading of books. Her painful disease led her to want to help others kids with their own escape from — from childhood abuse or health problems. She set a simple goal of collecting 300 books to donate to children in pain. After distributing flyers in her neighborhood, she ended up with three thousand books.

Inspired by her ability to make a difference for troubled kids, the Georgia girl started a charity, Sheltering Books, which has collected and donated 38,000 books for homeless and abused kids since 2007.

She has been nominated as a CNN Hero.

WATCH the video below, or read the story at CNN.