Clean out your bookshelves for a good cause

Riley Cavanaugh

The new year presents a great opportunity for students to support the community. It is a great time to establish a routine for the coming year. Adding volunteering to this routine is an important step to living the way Christ calls Christians to live.

Books for Africa, located in Atlanta, supports those in need in Africa by helping end the book famine there. The organization can send computers, books, tablets, and other library materials to children and students in need in Africa. Based on the donations they receive the organization is the largest shipper of donated text to all countries in the African continent. In one year alone the organization provided 3.2 million books and 355 computers to those in need.

our volunteers feel welcome because they are such an important part of what we do.”

Volunteers can sign up through the website under the volunteer tab. Volunteer shifts are organized into twohour shifts. Groups or individuals can sign up for these shifts. However, due to insurance, volunteers must be twelve or older. At the beginning of each shift volunteers will be given a brief orientation which includes how the organization was founded and how to sort books.

Donations are also essential for the organization to run. Donations are often from schools, libraries, individuals, and companies. All book donations are accepted; however, books pertaining to topics like American history, dieting, and magazines not relevant to an African batteries are not typically accepted with the exception of working calculators because access to batteries in Africa is not always guaranteed.

Donations can be dropped off during business hours and no sign up is necessary. If it is a large amount, the organization recommends emailing Hale using jen@ booksforafrica.org. Book drives are also an important

It was founded in 1988 by a book publisher named Thomas Warth. After he had traveled to Uganda, he saw how little resources schools and public libraries had. The sight of seven kids hovering around a single textbook start Books for Africa. The organization started out a small with him mailing books to a village in Uganda out of his garage. The organization grew due to his connections in the publishing industry and has continued to grow ever since.

The mission of the organization is to spread literacy as a bridge out of poverty. Atlanta community liaison, Jen Hale says, “Education is the great equalizer. If you can get a better education, you can improve your circumstances. In rural areas these books can change the quality of education.”

The organization provides students and children with materials in schools and in public libraries in various languages like English, French, and Spanish to help create an ideal learning environment and expand their world view. These materials help compensate for the lack of access to textbooks and other learning materials in Africa for many kids. Jen Hale says, “Education is so transformative. Not only formal education but leisure reading. It helps broaden one’s perspective of the world at large.”

Volunteers are necessary for the organization to function. It relies heavily on nearly seven hundred volunteers a week for a labor force. Volunteers can come in six days a week from 9:00-3:00 on weekdays and 9:00- 2:00 on Saturdays, and they are the ones responsible for the sorting and packing of nearly three million books a year. These categories include elementary, middle school, high school, and university level reading. With a staff of only around ten people, it is essential for volunteers to help process the high volume of books the organization receives. Jen Hale says, “We go out of our way to make child will be recycled and made into the boxes the organization will use to ship donations. Textbooks of all levels are accepted as well as fiction for all reading levels. If the book has some annotations of highlights the book can still be sent.

School supplies can also be donated. The organization accepts anything that can be of use to students like rulers, protectors, flash cards, pencils, paper, etc. There way the organization collects books. Interested individuals or groups are responsible for organizing a drive, but the organization will provide flyers and other advertisements at the request of the donors. Requesting these flyers can also be done by emailing Jen Hale.

Donated books are shipped to Africa at the request of libraries or schools in Africa. They typically find out about the organization online or through the Peace Corps. People in need of books go online to the website and fill out an order form to request a certain type of book. Books are requested by age group and fiction or nonfiction.

Books for Africa is just one way to volunteer this is also a list on the website with a list of supplies that the organization is requesting. Many schools in Africa are underequipped to provide quality education, so most supplies are appreciated. However, supplies that requires year. It provides a great opportunity to give both time and items. However, there are a number of meaningful ways to get involved with the community. Keep a look out in the coming issues for more oppurtunities.