Delta has donated nearly 50,000 seat covers, worth about $3 million, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which makes them into book bags and hygiene kits. Officials with the airline were in Salt Lake City, Delta’s western hub, on Wednesday to celebrate what both sides called a unique partnership.

“Children in many parts of the world will receive much needed school supplies thanks to the simple ingenuity of a good idea combined with the generosity of Delta and the willing service of church volunteers,” said H. David Burton, the church’s presiding bishop.

The partnership began last year, when a Delta technician saw a pile of seat covers about to be thrown away.

“My thought was, why couldn’t we make use of the seat covers for something else, rather than just throwing them away,” Mel Carter said. So he sent a sample of the fabric to the church’s Humanitarian Services Center, which has provided aid in at least 147 countries.

Staff there thought the thick, sturdy fabric would work well for the international school kits sent to developing nations or people in need.

At the center, volunteers sew the seat covers into bags and fill them with paper, pencils and other supplies. Leather first class seats are used to make balls and other toys.

The idea spread to other Delta divisions, which have donated 10,000 yards of uniform fabric, 60,000 used blankets and nearly $500,000 worth of flatware, glassware and tablecloths.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B8.