Students in the College of Education are currently volunteering their time collecting books for underprivileged students in Africa.

According to Penn State Live, the African Book Project Inc., a non-profit organization based in New Orleans, has been collecting books since 2000 for distribution to children around the world in need of literary material.

Two student groups – interns in PSU’s Professional Development School (PDS) and students in a PDS freshman seminar – are sacrificing their time and efforts for the cause. Their goal is to collect 2,000 to 3,000 books, and one student, Michael Gottfried, has already collected 1,100 books by himself. They have also seen great results as a group, collecting 300 books over a two day span. With a little extra contribution from all of us, imagine the numbers they could reach!

Books are collected from schools, universities, and libraries all over the country and are distributed all over the world in hopes of raising literacy rates among children in need.

They are looking for the following items:

*Picture books

*Baby books

*Short chapter books (for 1st or 2nd graders)

*Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases (dated 1990 or later)

The shipping cost for every block of 1,000 books is around $500, and the students will be conducting fundraisers to help with the cost.

A collection box for the books is located in the Office of Curriculum and Instructions Field Experiences, 173A Chambers Building.

Before you go running down to student book store to collect some bones for your textbooks, call up your mom and ask her (while she’s down pulling out the Christmas lights from the basement) to look around for all your old books and encyclopedias she stowed away years ago.

It could make all the difference to a kid in Swaziland who doesn’t know the joys of reading Dr. Seuss.

[Pic]