How this project got started
In the Summer of 2004 I was dating a woman who was an
elementary teacher’s aide in a small town in New Mexico. Near the end of
the school year she was going to try and give the young first graders small
gifts to show how she appreciated them. She asked me if I had any books I
could give away. I had a number of my son’s old children’s books that I had
read to him when he was young and so I brought her 6 books. On the last day
of school she gave six children a book each. Their eyes lit up and they
were amazed that they got this free book. Furthermore later that day other
small children came up to her and asked her where their book was.
At the same time I had also been thinking about the
Afghanistan people after our entering their country to fight the Taliban. I
had heard a radio interview on NPR describing how most of the schools there
were destroyed. There were no schoolbooks or supplies much less buildings
for these children to learn in. I realize that Americans were offering
support to the Afghanistan people in the ways of food and money but I
thought that if children there could get books, even if only English books,
that some of their children may learn to read and eventually the country,
in time, would become educated helping to decrease the ignorance and
violence. I realize that this may have been a bit too pessimistic to
believe that a few Afganistani children reading a book in English is going
to somehow make it a more peaceful country overnight but I do believe that
over the long run some of these children may develop a desire to read,
maybe even a desire to learn English and over a long time this would
eventually help build up their country.
Along with these thoughts and I had been wondering what to
do with my son’s old children’s books. So my first idea was to see about
shipping Americans used children’s books to Afghanistan. I’ve looked around
to see if this is possible but for the most part any help going to
countries overseas is sending the usual supplies of food, medicine and
maybe clothes. Flying over huge crates of books may not really be an
effective use of donated transportation, however I still think it is a good
idea and hope to fulfill on that project someday. But in the mean time I also
realized that I could help local communities by bringing children free
books that are either sitting on dusty bookcases in our homes or perhaps
stored in the basement.
I did not end up with the woman from New Mexico but in
2008 I met a fantastic woman who I am now dating, Laura Arbury from Fort
Collins, who along with some help from Landmark Education, helped me
realize the dream of the project. With the help of 16 wonderful co-workers
at my company, Halliburton, we
have now begun the process of collecting and sorting through the books. Our
hope is to deliver approximately 1000 books to two elementary/middle
schools in Costilla County, Colorado. The two schools are San Luis
Centennial School in San Luis, CO and Sierra Grande Elementary School in
Blanca, CO.
Mission
Statement
FAQ
Reading Is
a Gift Flyer #1
Reading
Is a Gift Flyer #2
Reading is
a Gift Flyer #2 (Microsoft Word document)