Posted By: Lee Blumenschine, Northeast Regional Director 

Travel 370 kilometers east of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and you will find the coffee producing city of Hirna.  As the capital of the Tullo district, Hirna is an administrative center whose schools serve the greater Tullo district and the surrounding districts of Mesela, Doba, and half of the Gorogutu district.  The challenge of meeting the educational needs of so many communities has been compounded by an overall lack of resources.  Consequently, the Hirna Secondary School, with only 13 functional class rooms and very few books is only able to accommodate a fraction of the region’s students.   

In November of 2006 Oren’s Daily Roast, a specialty coffee seller in NYC, teamed up with Better World Books to raise money to rebuild the Hirna Secondary School library.  Known as The Hirna Library Project, this is part of a larger initiative to rebuild the entire Hirna Secondary School.

Oren’s Daily Roast is currently accepting book donations at eight of their NYC locations.  All donations will be offered for sale online and the profits will go towards the reconstruction of the school library, proving the students of Hirna with much needed books a brighter future.  To learn more about this project please visit http://www.orensdailyroast.com/cat/Book+Drive+-+Ethiopia.html. 

             To donate books to benefit the Hirna Library Project please visit any of the following Oren’s Daily Roast store locations…

• 31 Waverly Place (btw University & Green)
• 434 Third Avenue (btw 30^th & 31^st)
• 1144 Lexington Avenue (btw 79^th & 80^th)
• Grand Central Market (43^rd & Lex)
• 33 east 58^th street (btw Madison & Park Ave)
• 985 Lexington Avenue (at 71^st street)
• 1574 First Avenue (btw 81^st and 82^nd)
• 2882 Broadway (112^th & 113^th)