The Cazenovia Rotary Club is sponsoring a pallet of books to be sent to Africa through the Central New York “Books for the World” program.
Rotary BFTW is a collaborative effort among Rotary clubs, other community and service organizations. Our object is to provide K-6th grade picture books, storybooks, K-12 grade textbooks, library books and professional books to regions of the world where books are needed to create opportunities for a better life.
English language books are greatly needed to improve literacy in many secluded regions. English is the language of business throughout the world. Primary destinations are ports in South Africa such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Shipments have also been sent to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jordan and Lebanon and other parts of the world.
At the local level, Rotary Clubs publicize the project, collect the books and pack them into standard-size cartons. Once 24 cartons are completely filled and stacked into a pallet, they are trucked to a warehouse in Upstate New York where they are weighed and shipped to a Rotary-operated warehouse in Houston, Texas.
Books from all U.S. Rotary collection centers are then packed into a shipping container and sent via container ship to third world distribution centers managed by Rotarians. Books are then unpacked and offered at no cost to schools, teachers and libraries. Often the shipping container itself is converted into a school or classroom as windows and doors are shipped along with the books.
This project was accomplished with the support of Cazenovia High School Principal Eric Knuth, Cazenovia Public Library Director Betsy Kennedy and the New Woodstock Library.
