Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

Check out who's on the cover of this month's Business Week "Small Biz" magazine:

That's right, it's Better World Books' own, co-founder Xavier Helgesen!  Xavier, on top of a throne of Reader's Digest books that resides in our "Fortress of Solitude" (ok, it's just the warehouse) is the image of the hot new topic:

Strategies: Mission Possible
Making money while doing good isn't easy, but more companies are proving it can be done.  Here are some successful strategies. (article by Anne Field)

Pick up the issue at newsstands (or wherever you pickup up your glossies) and read about it.  If print journalism doesn't float your boat you could always root around for it online at their website.

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

Everybody's got their party hats and soundmakers and getting ready for the infamous ball drop this evening.  No doubt many of you have your New Year's resolutions as well, such as "read this blog more" or for some of those working here "post on this blog more" or some similar sentiment.

This year, however, think about last year and what you made happen.  Maybe this year you forget about buying the gym membership that you used 3 times all year and perhaps recreating that "Pete & Pete" episode in which Pete "travels through time" by crossing the time zone boundary after midnight is somewhat misguided--if fun.  Maybe you want to consider something else, go green with your cleaners, dip your toe into solar (or just read about it first), learn a language (Swahili anyone?), get some hiking gear and get out there, learn to ski, adopt a penguin, or maybe just read a little more.  If you want it enough you can do it, and if you look, you'll see we can help.

2007 is just a memory, we look forward to seeing you in the future!

The Better World Books excursion  to south east Asia has begun successfully. Niko, Yanna, Damara, Natasha and myself (Aaron) have all survived the ~20 hours of flights to arrive in Ho Chi Min, ready to embrace the culture.

No time for elaborate postings right now, we are off to see a Pagoda.

Little known fact: our flight took us over the North Pole. We left Chicago and headed due North, contrary to my expectations that we would go West.  I almost went to knock on the cockpit, but I decided to trust in the Pilot. We circumnavigated the globe and arrived safely with no Internatonal incidents of note to report.

see you soon from the other side of the world.

-Aaron

Posted by Erin Fleming, guest blogger

This is part of a series covering BWB Co-Founder Xavier's trip to Africa.

*November 10, 2007

Since we only arrived a few days ago to South Africa, we are still in the switch-time zone, get–the-lay-of-the-land phase.  Yesterday our group split into three, and my group, including Xavier and fearless leader Henry, went on a drive down toward the Cape of Good Hope. The roads were washed out, so we only got as far as Hout Bay, which is where the British set up camp back in the day (Cape Town was first Dutch), and is also cool because they didn't really enforce apartheid. I hear Hout Bay even issued its own passports, such was the local pride, which new property owners can still obtain. We made it to Chapman’s Peak, overlooking the bay, and watched Right whales spouting in the waters below.  One even waved to us with his big tail! I felt like I was really at the end of the Earth there, where these green hills dropped right into the sea, near the confluence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and at the end of a continent so far from my home.

Hout Bay and Chapman's Peak, South Africa.

Our tour guide Loki, a friend of Xavier’s, is a biologist interested in human-elephant interaction. After observing the troubles between farmers and elephant herds, he started a company called Elephant Pepper that educates farmers in high-incident areas and assists them to grow chilies (which elephants don’t like) along with their subsistance crops and to use the same chilies to make sauces to sell. (The Baobab Gold is perfection; tangy, perfect amount of heat, actually contains baobab...)

I get the impression that there are many support roles here that are filled by non-South Africans, such as in education.  This is not a bad thing, of course. I think if all the best information and resources went where they were needed the world would be a better place, and South Africa is such a great candidate for these resources. It has the infrastructure to receive them, plenty of educated English-speaking folks and cultural connections to most parts of the world.

Today was a travel day. We flew to Durban on the southeast coast, a stopover on our way to the KwaZulu-Natal region, or Zululand.  Cape Town was a good introductory city for our group: beautiful, historic, but still a bit removed from the real poverty of Zululand. Plus, we got to go hiking up Table Mountain this morning and get some ocean views, a real treat!

Xavier remembers his life path to this moment on the Table Mountain hike.

The Durban airport countdown until the next time I will be in South Africa... World Cup 2010!

Posted by: Erin Fleming, guest blogger

Hello readers,

As Xavier noted earlier, we didn't have the technology to live-post to the blog during the Africa trip, so here it is, time-delay included for your reading pleasure.

Cape Town, South Africa

*November 7, 2007

Happy birthday to me! I have the greatest birthday gift today: my flight to Cape Town, South Africa! It’s going to be 11 hours from London to Johannesburg and another 2 to Cape Town, but only one-hour time change.  I will be joining Xavier, co-founder of Better World Books and Books for Africa (BfA) board member, and other people involved with BfA and a classroom-building organization, ECAG-USA (more on that later).  Some of the group’s goals for the trip include finding out more about the book delivery and distribution process on the Africa side, and also more about the needs and opportunities for education in the neediest regions of the country. I don’t know anyone else on the trip, but they are Minnesotans, so they must be friendly, right? Another birthday ‘gift’ – it’s almost summertime in South Africa! I can’t wait for the warm African sunshine after the month I have just spent in blustery, cloud-covered central Europe.

We are in South Africa until the 20th, and then we are in Malawi, a small country to the north, until the 29th.  We will be seeing many schools that have received book shipments and classroom donations, and potential recipient schools. I have a feeling we will learn so much...

*November 8, 2007

Unfortunately I arrived this afternoon from my overnight travel, so I missed the morning boat trip around Robben Island just off Cape Town’s V&A Harbor, where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for 27 years under the country’s apartheid regime.

The drive to Cape Town from the airport encapsulates what I expect to see in this country. There is beautiful natural scenery, with ocean view and rolling green hills (South Africa is the world’s 3rd most bio-diverse country, with over 20,000 plant species), and rich and poor communities awkwardly side-by-side. Just a few minutes after leaving the airport, black squatter camps surround the highway; tin-roofed shacks with many-colored scrap walls lean on each other amidst dirt pathways and women carrying the day’s wash.  My driver said the new government, like many recently, promised jobs to lift these people out of poverty, but thus far to no visible result.  Just a couple of miles beyond, I could see the University Cape Town, founded 1829 and still with nearly 50% white enrollment in a country that is 80% black, perched grandly up on the side of Devil’s Peak. While there is no longer apartheid, the advantage is still to the white folks here, it seems.

Cape Town itself is nestled in the lowlands of the oceanfront mountains, much like Rio de Janeiro. High rises are grouped near the Atlantic Ocean’s edge and lead up to private homes painted in rainbow colors up the hillsides. It was in one of these neighborhoods, called Bo-Kaap, where we had a fantastic, family-style Malay dinner.

 

The restaurant name, Bo-Kaap Kombois, essentially means the neighborhood kitchen. According to the owner, the local people historically held all family meetings, group decision-making and quality time in the kitchen, and so he wanted his restaurant to reflect the welcoming, homey atmosphere and the local cuisine. He enthusiastically told us about each dish and the sauces (think ginger, curry, tamarind and chilies), how the white landowners brought in workers from Malaysia, India, China and from the surrounding area, and how the lingua franca Afrikaans and the cuisine came out of this immigrant melting pot that is Bo-Kaap. He also spoke very highly of the generosity of the local residents (he claims we can walk into someone's home and use the bathroom, and we will not leave without a cup of tea and having been asked about our mother), the strong sense of community and the prevalence of the Islamic faith here.  Xavier and I had a laugh at the thought of the walk-in-to-your-neighbor’s bathroom thing… I think we may try that back in San Francisco!

The view from the restaurant’s wall-sized windows was stunning; we were up on the edge of a bowl-shaped valley that poured down to the waterfront, and could see the red, pink and yellow houses of Bo-Kaap and a very curious sight—the little putting green in the empty lot below. Four boys, each with a 5-iron were hitting a golf ball up this strip of (how did that get there?) ratty astro-turf surrounded by unkempt lawn, one even wearing an Argyle sweater. I guess this was golfing Africa-style. 

What a great first day! I am excited for the villages and the schools, but some transition time in lovely Cape Town will start us off right.  I’m still not over the “am I really here?’ feeling. This city is just so, well, European and modern that it is hard to fit it with my idea of Africa. But maybe that is the point: each place I will see here will stand alone and will have much to it that I don’t expect. How wonderful!

Xavier digs in to the Malay cuisine with Erin on his left; the owner smiles over the satisfied customers.

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director


Books for Africa and UMECS (United Movement to End Child Soldiering) are putting efforts to help form school systems in Northern Uganda. 

For $13,000 assembly, packing and shipping costs, Books for Africa will be shipping 35,000 well selected school books (approximate retail value: $150,000) and ten computers to four secondary schools in Northern Uganda. We are leading the campaign to raise these funds which will bring needed books to classrooms and libraries at Sacred Heart Secondary School in Gulu District; Alliance College Secondary School in Kitgum District; Lira Palwo Secondary School in Pader District and a secondary school in Amuru District in Northern Uganda . For more information about Books for Africa.  (original text at Pan-African Empowerment)

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director



Over at GeekSugar, the femme hip/intelligentsia mashup site, they have some interesting information about literacy.  First of all they have the following:

The Education Department is blaming the country's increasingly poor spelling and writing skills in youth on their love of text messaging. In a recent report on the national test results in English for about 37,000 students aged 15 and 16, the department's Examination Commission said cutting-edge communications technology has "encouraged poor literacy and a blunt, choppy style at odds with academic rigor."

Regardless of whether or not you're buying into that as legitimate, GeekSugar links to The Great American Word Challenge.  The game involves filling in the missing letter of the word, as defined.  Why would you engage in such a thing?  Well...

The city that achieves the highest-cumulative average score takes the title and the prize of a Ubisoft donation of My Word Coach video games and Nintendo DS systems to local NCFL learning centers. Even better, everyone who takes the challenge will be entered to win a trip for two to Washington, DC, and have the chance to win one of two Wiis.

Ah!  The plot thickens!  So support the NCFL as Nintendo battles illiteracy in the USA (seriously).  If that doesn't feel right for you, you could always go to FreeRice (as previously reported).

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

Hey all.  Check back on the 26th for some updates but for now Better World Books (and thusly the blog) will be taking a few days to enjoy the holiday season.  Happy holidays, best to you and yours, and come back soon!

Sincerely,
Jack and the everyone at Better World Books.

Posted by Kim Emery, Administrative Support Specialist



The Library Division is proud to announce that Better World Books is now a member of the Georgia Recycling Coalition! The mission of the GRC is to compliment and coordinate activities relative to recycling, to foster communication amongst professionals, organizations, government agencies and individuals and to promote and enhance waste reduction and recycling programs throughout the state.

We believe that the new relationship with the GRC will further enable BWB to connect with those who are as committed as we are to making a positive environmental impact.

Posted by: F. Xavier Helgesen, Co-Founder

“Xavier, you need to come, it’s going to be incredible.” Henry’s a convincing guy, a skill that’s clearly served him well in building a successful software company, and he had a willing prospect on his hands. “Come visit my friends in Malawi, tour the schools I’ve helped build in Zululand, South Africa, and we’ll check on all kinds of Books For Africa recipients.” I suggested that we visit Better World Books Zambia (more on that later) as well. Henry countered that if we were doing that, it would be a shame to not see Victoria Falls. Sold.

I know Henry through my work on the Board of Books For Africa. It’s a collection of truly dedicated and passionate professionals who come together on their nights and weekends to help end the book famine in Africa. Henry’s a traveler after my own heart, preferring backpackers’ hostels to any hotel that brags about its star rating. He invited a number of his friends and business associates along on the trip, and over the weeks, they quickly became new friends. Although I normally abhor group travel, it made a lot of sense for this trip. The logistics of all the school visits and book recipient visits would have been daunting if we had not banded together. Another unexpected benefit was that I got to drive a rental 6-speed Mercedes mini-van on the left side of the road all over South Africa. Fun! I hate cars for the damage they do to the environment and culture… but I love to drive, especially in unfavorable circumstances. Consider it a guilty pleasure.

I blocked off what was easily my longest stretch away from the office since we founded Better World Books five years ago. The whole month of November I would be largely offline, with the exception of a few phone calls and email checks. A trip like this would have been inconceivable a few years ago, but thanks to the incredible team we’ve built at Better World, I didn’t sweat it in the least. I knew the ops would keep humming under Kreece’s leadership, BetterWorld.com would keep getting better thanks to Dale, Geoff, and Justin, and on and on. I think everybody was glad to not have to humor any of my crazy ideas for a whole month.

Speaking of crazy ideas, I had high hopes of being able to live-blog this trip from a OLPC, the $199 laptop designed specifically for the developing world. Sadly, the OLPC people didn’t have pre-release laptops available, and at any rate, Africa’s low Internet connectivity wouldn’t have permitted much blogging other than a few quick posts. So, loyal readers, you get the next best thing. Think of this as a time-delayed live-blog. We’ll be blogging with videos and photos and get as close as we can to bringing you along on the trip.

Also speaking of crazy ideas – we’ll be launching a customer loyalty system for Better World in 2008. Rather than give away blenders, coffee mugs, and similar rubbish, we thought that a few loyal customers should come to Africa with us to visit the literacy projects in person. After all, it’s customers that make this whole thing possible. Why should Better World employees have all the fun? This idea deserved a beta test. My friend and longtime Better World customer Erin Fleming agreed to join me and help document the trip. She’s typical of our customers – well read, globally minded, socially conscious, (and cheap!). Her perspective will really bring the trip to life for you.

Keep tuning in over the next month as Erin and I travel Zambia, South Africa and Malawi.

To whet your appetite, I've attached a few Youtube videos. These are from Erin and I hitchhiking in Malawi. Don't worry - our traveling companions took a lot of convincing to leave us by the side of the road in Malawi.

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

As I wrote previously, the holidays offer a chance to give gifts with a little more meaning than that new "Best moments of Reality TV calendar."  I also wrote about Charity Navigator but I failed to make the connection.  I've been searching through the blogosphere and I've been seeing plenty of suggestions for gifts to your coworkers, clients or like minded friends and there's one that keeps coming up:  Note the fourth idea at this website: "Make a donation in their name to a charity like Kiva or Room to Read."  That Kiva idea sounds strangely familiar... but how about Room to Read?  Did you know that for only $250 you can sponsor a girl's education for a WHOLE YEAR via Room to Read?  Amazing!  $10,000 will construct a library and fill it with books, puzzles, games and furniture.  Seriously.

I've already elucidated why Kiva is great, and if you look around and listen then you know that all of our partners are fantastic but if you're not sold, Riches for Good, an excellent blog about social responsibility did a report called "Seven Best Bets for International Giving."  The report shows the only seven international non-profits that have both Fast Company's Social Capitalist Award and Charity Navigator's 4 Star Rating.  Room to Read is one of those illustrious seven!

If you're not sure that people want gifts in their name so much as gifts in their hands, there's still some great options.  Obviously you could buy a book from us where you'd be certain that portions of profit would go to our partners and that shipping would be carbon neutral (and free in the US).  But if you're in the mood for something different check this out:

Flipanthropic is a company that sells flip flops through their site, Flipanthropy.  A new product comes out each year and the two founders donated all the startup money so 100% of your cash goes to support Room to Read and Women for Women International.

Posted by: Paul Drake, Account Development Manager

Our four Global Literacy Partners are all world class organizations that make a huge impact for literacy, as you’ve seen on this very blog.  You can even see testimonials about our relationship on YouTube.  We don’t often post about the other 74+.  Since I’m based out of our warehouse here in Mishawaka, I am lucky enough to meet some of the people in these other groups and hear about the huge impact they make in people’s lives.  They don’t necessarily make headlines, but they do make a difference.

Anne Gongwer is one such woman.  As a teacher-turned-missionary, she started the Ankaase Literacy Program in Ankasse, Ghana. Under her leadership, the program has taught over 80 adults and children to read in their native tongue.  She has continued to expand the young program, recently completing the Reading Town Community Library which will provide for the education of future generations of Ghanaian children.


Anne is originally from Mishawaka and had heard about us through an acquaintance.  I met with her and asked what Better World Books could do to help.  At the time, she was near finishing her library and really needed books.  We were more than happy to oblige.


Unfortunately I couldn’t meet with them when she and her husband came in to select them. I had a meeting with another potential partner (more on that in the coming months) so I asked my colleague, Jon Metzger, to assist them.  Jon spent his early years in Sierra Leone, where his dad was a surgeon.  It turns out that Anne’s husband, Cameron, remembered meeting Jon and his dad over 18 years ago in Sierra Leone.  I guess the Sherman Brothers were right. 


The Gongwers were able to take 4 boxes of books with them on their way back to Ghana.  We hope to be able to get them more books in the future!

Posted by Natasha Harris, West Coast Senior Director

On December 28^th, a small group of Better World Books delegates will be departing these United States to spend two weeks traveling in Southeast Asia, visiting mostly with Room to Read projects in Cambodia (more on this to come, of course).  In honor of the upcoming excursion, I thought to share some of the educational challenges currently faced by Cambodia.  Read more here:

In the four years that the Khmer Rouge reigned from 1975 to 1979, they killed nearly all educated Cambodians, thus wiping out a whole generation of literate role models.  Today, roughly 80% of Cambodian citizens are subsistence farmers or work in very low-wage jobs such as food processing and forestry.  Child labor is prevalent at very high rates, in fact, 42% of children aged 14-17 work in order to help sustain their families.  Half of all young girls work, and one third of boys work; the ratio of boys to girls attending secondary school is 3:1. 

According to the United Nations Development Program, 80% of Cambodians attend primary school; however, only 19% continue on to secondary.  Only 5.4% of Cambodian villages have a lower secondary school, and only 2% have an upper secondary.  Students who want to attend secondary school must often walk miles to reach the nearest school.

Through 2006, Room to read has established 807 libraries and 45 computer labs in Cambodia.  It has also published 45 local language titles and put 656 deserving young girls on scholarship.  Room to Read currently has 19 full-time staff members in Cambodia alone.  These staff are local - they speak Khmer, understand the customs and laws, and are best suited to help implement Room to Read programs so that Cambodian children can benefit through increased educational opportunities.  Our delegation is looking forward with great enthusiasm to meeting the Room to Read staff and students that benefit from Room to Read programs - check back in a couple of weeks to learn more about our on-the-ground experience!

Posted by Silvia Sweidan, Northwest Regional Director

After reading John Wood's Book, "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children," I was greatly inspired to say the least. It reaffirmed my commitment to the amazing work we are doing with Better World Books, from simply running book drives on college campuses so we can live in a Better World. On page 116, John asks, "You say you want a Revolution?" and then suggests an answer: "THINK BIG FROM DAY ONE." He continues to say, "when I started Room to Read, I declared immediately that our goal was to help 10 million children to gain the lifelong gift of education." And true enough, Wood's words are coming true everyday of our lives. As you continue your amazing book drives, think BIG and be part of a Better World for all!

Posted by Abby Rae LaCombe, Rocky Mountain Regional Director

Authors in Britain are putting pressure on the Prime Minister to nip illiteracy in the bud. 545 authors signed a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressing their concern over poor reading skills among British youth. An official statistic released showed that one in five 11 year old British school children are not able to read to the minimum standard.

They could be scared of a plummeting book sales, but my bet is that they and many others are scared of a world where kids aren’t well educated enough to read and savor Roald Dahl. Seriously, childhood without Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Witches can barely be called childhood.

And before anyone even suggests it, the movies do the books no justice. Grab a cup of cocoa, snuggle up with your favorite Dahl book, and relive your childhood this weekend. I know how to recognize a witch, do you??

Original article



(looking for some Dahl for Christmas?)

Posted by Sarah Lynne Reul, Senior East Coast Director

Just received this great email from Martha Schouten at University of Oran in Algeria:


Dear Pat and Sarah Lynne and all the people from Books for Africa and Better World Books,

I speak for all of my students at Es-Senia University Department of English when I say we are thrilled and thankful to have received in our storehouse the 688 boxes of books from you today. More than 50 of us helped to unload the truck, take pictures, and otherwise celebrate the long awaited arrival of your generous donation. After finding a safe storage room to temporarily put the books before dispatching them to the different university libraries the English club members helped me give a reception for the university workers and all the students who helped in the day's work.
 
Algerians and especially the youth want so much to open up to the world, to learn languages, to visit and share ideas and to have visitors from other countries come also to visit this beautiful country so varied in culture and landscape.  Thank you again for trusting us with this wonderful gift of support in learning the English language and enlarging our knowledge of American culture. We will continue to send pictures, newspaper articles and e-mails to keep you up to date with our future activities.

Best regards,
Martha Schouten and English students
ELF Es-Senia
Oran Algeria

This is Books for Africa's first shipment to Algeria, and the shipping was completely funded by the newly-established Better World Books Fund for Books for Africa. We've been following the story of this shipment since September - here are the previous blog postings:

Better World Books Funds Shipment to the University of Oran in Algeria
University of Oran gets ready for books!
University of Oran update

Here are some more pictures from the arrival!

Posted by Abby Rae LaCombe, Rocky Mountain Regional Director



NCFL challenged its hometown, Louisville, KY, to become a leader in literacy. Sharon Darling’s letter to Louisville outlines literacy statistics in Jefferson County. She points out that 27.4% of the working age population has deficient literacy skills. 47,000 adults (25+ years) do not have high school diplomas, and 21% of families with young children have annual incomes below the poverty line. As the wealth of research regarding literacy has shown (thank you NCFL, for contributing so vastly to this collection), parents’ education and income level are the most consistent predictors of a child’s success in education.

A great first step toward improving your family’s literacy success is making reading, speaking, and writing with your children a fun family routine. Verizon and NCFL’s Thinkfinity provides a variety of resources for parents who want to make reading a family event. The NCFL magazine “Cultivating Readers” is available for download or purchase. This magazine provides tips and activity ideas for parents who want to raise children who love to read. The magazine has activities aimed at children aged birth – 2 years old, 3 – 5 years, 6 – 8 years.

This holiday season, help Better World Books support National Center for Family Literacy’s efforts to improve lives all over our country by shopping at BetterWorld!

Full Article

Posted by Sarah Lynne Reul, Senior East Coast Regional Director

Last week, Action Child Mobilization in Ghana received their 20-foot container of books from Books for Africa! The shipment contained lots of new books and left the U.S. back in September - $8,000 of the shipping costs were funded by the Better World Books Fund.

Here's a statement from the National Director of Action Child Mobilization, Pastor Francis Opoku:

As for the quality of the books ... I must tell you I am VERY HAPPY. The books are very good. The workbooks in particular would be very helpful to our village schools where they have no books at all. They will have something to work with. My wife is a professional teacher and has confessed the books will make teaching easier for the schools that would receive them. She admits they are more fun to teach with than the Ghanaian books. I am very happy with the content of the container.

Here are some pictures from the arrival!

Posted by Yanna C. Ogilvie, Senior Central Eastern Director

In 2006 Sonia Sosa approached Better World Books about starting a book drive with AMSA (the American Medical Student Association) to support global literacy efforts in Africa through the non-for-profit organization, Books for Africa. At the '06 National Convention this drive raised 500 books in just a few days. Michael A. Casey succeeded Sonia in her position and saw the opportunity to take her dream and build upon it. During the months to come he would turn her efforts into a nation wide book drive that spanned the country with drives at 28 schools and an additional 10,500 books collected. Thanks to all the books AMSA has collected Books for Africa can fund the shipment of 30,000 books to Africa, enough to fill 15 schools!

These book drives are truly making a difference in the lives of impoverished people. Books collected in a Better World Books/AMSA drive will either be sold to raise much-needed funding for Books for Africa, or they will be sent to their collection center for shipping overseas. Pat Plonski, Executive Director, Books for Africa, notes, "By increasing African literacy, we decrease African poverty. Every book donated by a student or a bookstore puts us that much closer to ending the African book famine."

Better World Books has provided $3420 to AMSA chapters, and has allocated $1056.75 for a travel scholarship to Africa. The hope is to make improving literacy in Africa an everyday, every chapter effort that expands each year. With increasing book collections we hope to have a growth of this fellowship to fund not only travel but support promising students in their development of an on the ground literacy initiative in Africa.

To read the entire article pick up a copy of December’s New Physician Magazine or visit this link, www.amsa.org/chapoff/BWB.cfm

AMSA: It takes more than medical school to make a physician

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director



Hey, if you live in Oklahoma, are a Sooners fan/alum or just really dig news about the Big XII, check out the following from The Norman Transcript:

Phi Alpha Theta, Zeta Theta chapter, will organize a campus textbook drive to benefit Worldfund, a nonprofit organization seeking to transform lives in Latin America through high quality education, between Monday and Jan. 9.  The group will collect all textbooks and other college level texts published between 2001 and 2007.

An assessment by the U.S Agency for International Development reports that children in Latin America attend school an average of 5.4 years, stating that "the inferior quality of education impedes the ability of Latin America to move forward economically."

Organizers of the Worldfund book drive will collect used college-level books in green-and-white "Book Drive" collection bins on the OU campus at Dale Hall, Dale Hall Tower, Ellison Hall, Gould Hall and the Fine Arts Building.

Thanking the University of Oklahoma community for its support, Worldfund Founder Luanne Zurlo said, "By donating your books to benefit Worldfund, you will help individuals gain the education they need to lift themselves out of poverty."

In July 2006, Worldfund retained Better World Books as its premier agent to collect books on its behalf. Books collected for Worldfund will be sold online to generate a sustainable stream of unrestricted funding for the organization. Nationwide book drives since fall 2006 have raised $15,000 for Worldfund's programs. For more information, visit Worldfund.

(Link to original article)

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

Surfing the web, as I am wont to do during my lunch (as if I didn't stare at the screen enough during the day), I found a pretty awesome website called "Charity Navigator."  Charity Navigator is a service that grades various charities/non-profits so that you can better assess where to put your hard-earned money.

In an episode of complete coincidence, on the page today, one of the featured charities is none other than our own partner, Room to Read!  As you can see, Room to Read has an excellent 4-star rating and (as I'm sure you know) is one of the highest ranked non-profits on the site (at a 66.58 out of 70, the best rated charity on the site, the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, is at 69.86).

After looking at our partners, check out some other charities and feel free to post a comment about your favorite.  In any event, this is truly a unique resource, and a fantastic one recognizing that charity and philanthropy, even on small levels, is a large enough industry that people need to be informed.

Posted by Sarah Lynne Reul, Senior East Coast Regional Director

Pat Plonksi, the Executive Director of Books for Africa, sent these pictures of a recent shipment to Guinea-Bissau:

Posted by Jack Hanlon, Northeast Regional Director

To be one of the most successful drives every semester takes a level of commitment and ingenuity that any book drive participant will tell you is extraordinary.  In Ontario there is such a book drive, at the University of Guelph.  It started with a grad student named Mark Sun deciding to lead a Books for Africa drive and continues with uber-rep Ana Perkovic these days.  As Ana chooses a successor for next year, I thought I'd better use her as a resource for as long as I can.  First, the numbers:

Fall '05 - 149 cartons (3,427 books)*
Spring '06 - 284 cartons (6,532)
Fall '06 - 109 cartons (2,507)
Spring '07 - 116 cartons (2,668)

*based on average of 23 books per carton

So how have they had such success?  I've never heard Ana say she was doing something incredibly out of the ordinary, per se, but instead they just know how to use the resources provided to them in an effective manner.  Between

• on a cold day (they get a few of those in Ontario) "Give a book get a hot chocolate," to
• large banners created at the print shop to advertise in the student center to
• a heavy advertising campaign with articles such as this in the campus e-bulletin and getting the word out to both teachers and students to 
• the much appreciated and helpful assistance of the wonderful folks at the University of Guelph bookstore to 
• painting the cannon on campus (apparently you can paint a large cannon and as long as someone hangs out at it then no one can paint over it until you leave) to 
• the very awesome idea of putting a sign on their backpacks that says "ASK ME ABOUT OUR BOOK DRIVE!" with the dates and locations on it to
• a thermometer showing how many books they collected with a goal to
• a donor appreciation day with a raffle to get people out to
• well you get the picture, they get what they need to do!
  

Here are some of the volunteers (including Ana) reppin' BFA and Better World Books.

Posted by Silvia Sweidan, Northwest Regional Director

Each month Worldfund takes the time to highlight a success story from one of the partner schools that they fund in Latin America.  November's high-lighted student was six-year-old Kevin, who attends a Worldfund sponsored Mano Amiga partner school in Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Kevin is an only child being raised by his single mother, who is an administrative assistant at his school. 

Kevin is an exceptional student.  Not only did he obtain excellent grades last year, but he also had a perfect attendance record throughout the year.  He maintains close relationships with his mother, his teachers and his peers.  He loves math and English and is a regular participator in class. 

Kevin is able to attend school through a sponsor-funded scholarship provided by Worldfund.  He and his mother are both delighted with the education that he is receiving at his school, as is apparent by that beautiful healthy face you see smiling back at you below.

Worldfund currently provides financial support to seven education partners in Latin America whose schools and programs serve close to 30,000 students in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.  Its vision is for every child in Latin America to have access to a high-quality education and the tools to become a productive member of his or her local community.

Posted by Niko Tomlinson, Central West Senior Director

Scoring an unprecedented 6 out of 5 on the knock your socks, shoes and toewarmers-off scale, North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) launched one of the most exciting new pilot programs with which Better World Books is involved.  From the press release of the NHCC Communications Department:

"BROOKLYN PARK – On Tuesday, November 27, 2007, a newly formed partnership between Better World Books, The North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) Bookstore, the NHCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, and the NHCC Foundation yielded its first donation toward a new textbook scholarship for NHCC students with a $822.00 check."

What's so interesting about this is that the Phi Theta Kappa group helps organize and promote the book drive in support of Books for Africa.  The main collection point is at the bookstore during buyback and the Phi Theta Kappa group has a table set up to help promote the literacy cause.  The scholarship check is given to the NHCC Foundation whose main function is to distribute scholarship money to deserving students.  This particular scholarship is unique for the Foundation because it's distributed via the bookstore and specifically for textbooks!  It's a great combination of effort from Phi Theta Kappa students and faculty on campus working with the bookstore and the school's administration to build a stronger campus community, help support literacy in Africa, AND reuse and recycle thousands of books that might otherwise go to waste.  Ingenuity and goodwill in action- what Better World Books was founded upon and what our partnerships with NHCC and Phi Theta Kappa are continuing to spread.

Pictured left to right, (front) Tom Snorek, Amy Cloutier, Joe Crowe, Beth Frykman

(back) Peggy LePage, Tom Curtis, DeeDee Heitzman, Matt Cici, Niko Tomlinson (Better World Books), Carole LaFleur

Posted by Pat Lynch, Great Lakes Regional Director

Verizon Communications is leading the way in the development of a new and honest image for America's most successful and profitable companies. Corporate Social Responsibility Programs are starting to becom more and more common at the largest companies in the United States. Verizon Communications has really stood out in this movement by establishing the Verizon Foundation.

"The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, is committed to improving literacy and K-12 education through its signature program Thinkfinity.org; fostering awareness and prevention of domestic violence; and promoting the use of technology in health-care delivery. In 2006, the foundation awarded more than $69 million in grants to nonprofit agencies in the United States and abroad. The foundation also matched charitable donations from Verizon employees and retirees, resulting in $29 million in combined contributions. Under the foundation's Verizon Volunteer initiative, one of the nation's largest employee-volunteer programs, company employees and retirees have also contributed nearly 3 million hours of community service since Verizon's inception in 2000." - CNN.com

I applaud Verizon Wireless and the work of the Verizon Foundation. Currently, they are in the midst of a month-long book drive where they are collecting 200,000 books to benefit at risk communities, in all of their corporate offices throughout the country. These books and this book drive will have a real impact on at-need populations.

Corporate Social Responsibility is important. The real power to "get things done," things like ending illiteracy, homelessness, poverty, hunger, illness...the real power lies in the heart of global economic forces. Good businesses, making good money, and doing good things, is the most effective way to address a problem. We realize that here at Better World Books and it is w