On Sunday, November 13 in Palo Alto, myself (Carolyn Gannon, Malawi Country Liaison), Pamela Bostlemann (Ghana Country Liaison & Container Manager), and Chris Bradshaw (ALP Founder & Uganda Country Liaison) attended Project Giving Kids’ Create the Change 2022 event at the Oshman JCC. It was great fun, well run, and productive, as well. We attended on behalf of the African Library Project along with dozens of other nonprofits with tables encouraging and educating young children and their families about the fulfilling work of giving back to our communities.
Pamela staffed the bookmark creation table, which is where all the kids flocked during the first hour and made all sorts of colorful bookmarks that will go into ALP book boxes. This was a very creative and fun activity to create an extra little surprise for the children receiving their library.
Chris and I sorted donated books by size on another table, and then kids and parents joined in to sort and pack books into boxes. Moms and dads pitched in as “counters” of the number of books packed into each box. Within a short time, we had a whole library’s worth of book boxes completely packed with Packing Slips and Mailing Labels that Chris prepared in advance. The library that was packed is for Bihee MA Primary in northern Ghana, the least developed area of the country.
It was a flurry of fun activity with kids and parents working together. Several parents helped out further by schlepping boxes of books to Chris’s mini van with the aid of hand carts provided by the JCC. The African Library Project is actively seeking Book Drive Organizers, and several acquaintances met at the event expressed sincere interest. Many noted that they plan to talk to their children’s schools about getting involved in doing ALP book drives!
If interested in becoming a Book Drive Organizer, please visit our Book Drives webpage for more information. As of December 1, 2022, sign-ups are open for both Ghana with a Feb 15, 2023 mailing deadline and Malawi with a Mar 1, 2023 mailing deadline.
