♪ That use to be York, South Carolina, like many American small towns, downtown comes alive in the summer months with an outdoor concert series.

A fun for the whole family type of event, with bounce houses, all sorts of games like Jenga and cornhole, and of course, popcorn funnel cakes and shaved ice.

- It's great.

We love to see York growing, and for families.

- [Jason] Pulling in down at the end of North Congress Street is something you wouldn't normally find at one of these events, a school bus.

- Everybody loves it.

I mean, it's so fun, and it's kind of like an old fashioned idea too.

I know it used to be like a thing back in the day, you know.

- [Jason] But it's not your typical school bus.

It's not yellow and doesn't carry kids.

- I mean, I've been working on this and trying to get it going for since, you know, 2016.

- [Jason] But what it does have is a unique name, The Kind Bus.

- Since it doesn't say book mobile on it, I definitely get like, "Oh, what is this?"

And then I'm like, "Come on to my bus."

And they're like, "Are you sure?"

- [Jason] Erin Macnabb admittedly wasn't much of a reader growing up.

- Not at all.

Nope.

- [Jason] In her 30s, she started getting into non-fiction educational type books, basically reading to learn something.

- And it just kept going like as I got better at it.

I was like, "Oh okay, this is good."

And then I kind of challenged myself, see if I could read like a whole stack, you know, in a year, and then it just kind of grew into a love.

- [Jason] While attending a festival in Georgia in 2016, Erin felt a little inspiration.

- Yeah, I mean, it set me on the mission to start like brainstorming.

It wasn't necessarily like a bus right away, but it was like definitely got my creative juices going.

- [Jason] She toyed with various ideas like a coffee shop or some sort of free store.

- But the more I pondered that, the more it came into me like realizing how much like stuff I'd be juggling and I just was not, it was overwhelming.

And then I like simplified and simplified into books.

- [Jason] Erin's goal slowly became clear, be involved in the community in a fun, interactive, creative way.

- Oh, yay.

- [Jason] Thanks to donations, Erin bought an old school bus off Facebook marketplace and began a long process of transforming it into her vision.

- I made a post on like the neighborhood next door I guess app and just was looking for someone to help me design the inside.

I really was at a loss of what to do or where to begin, or I didn't know where to start with that.

- [Jason] Someone who works with the school district saw Erin's post and recommended it become a project for Clover High School's engineering class.

- And she got the permission from the superintendent, and so I dropped it off at Clover High, and the seniors, they had, you know, had a ball.

They did their thing and they did awesome.

- [Jason] Clover High students went to work cutting out wood shelves, installing a kitchenette, building a track system for the books and just making things generally easier for Erin to navigate.

- Yeah, this is actually the idea of the senior kids, they just thought it'd be super easy to just store the books in here.

And then just, you just have to flip it up.

- [Jason] And the students weren't the only ones pitching in.

- Like the flooring for example, I went to Lowe's and just told them what I was doing and they gave me the flooring.

- [Jason] So they gave it, they comped it, gave it to you, and then they had someone install it?

- My dad installed it.

- [Jason] Toss in Erin's personal touches like butterflies, glittery skulls, plants, stickers, and ceramic flowers, and The Kind Bus was off and running.

- And then I just made like magnets out of old books and kind of like decoupage them and sparkles, and that's the intent is to just have like eventually so much going on in here, but like a color blast and just fun stuff to look at.

Even though it's just a bookmobile, it's kind of like a little like if inside of it, it's almost like a coming to life as like a sculpture, you know?

There's all kinds of weird stuff in there to look at.

I've started gluing like little animals on.

So over time, it's just gonna get funkier and funkier.

- I think it's so cute, and I love that she's bringing a love for reading and making it accessible for people, and it's adorable.

She has very cute style, hippie vibes.

- The kids love the PEZ dispensers.

I put magnets on those.

And so sometimes they'll be like, "Oh, can I have one?"

And I'll just be like, "Sure."

They take a little PEZ souvenir home.

- [Jason] But what would a bookmobile like The Kind Bus be without books?

Lots of them, all of which were donated, and all of which Erin offers free to anyone coming aboard.

- A lady came on, and she picked a couple books out, and she asked how much they were, and I told her they were free, and she just like had these tears in her eyes and she was so happy.

And like it just, yeah, it was like, oh that was, that's what I like to see.

- [Jason] Erin's original intent was to take the bus to various events all over the region, but she admits, it's a little bit hard to drive so she sticks close to home in and around York County, going to events like the summer concert series where kids not only enjoy the books but also the hula hoops, sidewalk chalk, and giant bubbles Erin's offers up.

- I want people to maybe know that they can come out of their everyday grind and do something creative.

Yeah, I think the world needs some more sparkle right now, so hopefully I can inspire that.