Co-Chairs’ message
Fiscal year 2019 continued to be a busy one packing and shipping large shipments to Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and India, for a total of over 100,000 books. Smaller donations were made to Bolivia, Philippines, Haiti, Madagascar, Nigeria and a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey.
The Book Project has initiated donations to two NGOs who are able to use books that are not suitable for our recipients overseas: Book Savers of Maryland and DC Books to Prisons. This new partnering prevents the destruction of books that would otherwise be shredded and turned into pulp. We continue our partnerships with Fleur de Vie and Mano a Mano, NGOs who serve beneficiaries in Haiti and Bolivia, respectively.
Some of our shipments have encountered challenges: civil strife, changes in Custom clearance laws and new layers of bureaucratic and political issues in recipient countries. We are taking additional measures to alert and prepare our future Sponsors regarding the challenges they may face at the port of entry. It has been inspirational to support the dedicated Sponsors who work tirelessly to deliver the books to the children despite the obstacles they may face.
We had the pleasure of hosting representatives from two of our major donors – Fairfax County Schools and Charles County Schools. Our visitors toured the Book Project facilities, the World Bank MC Building and met with our WBFN Coordinator, Catherine Mathieu. The representatives reaffirmed their commitment to continuing their donations to us given the importance of our literacy mission.
We look forward to possible future donations to Ghana, Ukraine and India and our continued partnering with other NGOs
Laura Byerlee and Agnes Nuval
Co-Chairs, Book Project
This Fiscal Year, with the support of The World Bank, WBFN, our Donors and our Volunteers our organization has donated 73,600 books in large shipments:16,000 to India, 28,800 to Cameroon and 28,800 to Sierra Leone.
We also made small shipments Bolivia, Haiti, Madagascar, Philippines, and Turkey/Syria (refugee camp) for a total of 73 boxes (approximately 2,920 books). These donations were sponsored by NGOs and individuals committed to literacy.
Where possible, we continue to coordinate with established in-country partners such as the Fisiy Foundation (Cameroon) and the Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust (India) to facilitate port clearances, storage and distribution.
- A total of 4,556 hours was donated by active volunteers (with an average of 5-10 volunteers per day) over a nine month period. Work days have changed to Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This year there were 38 active volunteers including six student volunteers completing Community Service hours for schools.
- Recruitment of volunteers for the Book Project is coordinated through WBFN and includes spouses, children (minimum 16+ years of age) and relatives of World Bank staff members. Additionally, a number of volunteers are retired staff from the World Bank.
Primary Sources
Three (3) surrounding metropolitan public school districts:
- Maryland: Montgomery County, Charles County
- Virginia: Fairfax County, Arlington County (Oakridge Elementary School only, not from school district)
- Private Schools: Little Flower School, St. Stephens, Norwood, Linton Hall, Landon School, St. Patrick’s, United Nations, Sidwell Friends School
Secondary Sources
- Private donations from individuals
- Bank Staff member donations
Logistical support for warehousing, transporting and shipping books is provided by the World Bank’s Global Corporate Solutions (GCS). Among its responsibilities, GCS arranges for the transfer of books from warehouse facilities to the packing room (JB3-105) of the Book Project. Once a shipment has been packed, they oversee the transfer of one or more containers from our packing room to the recipient country, including shrink wrapping pallets of books, obtaining the relevant documentation for shipments and otherwise ensuring the smooth delivery of all books from the relevant ports of departure to ports of entry.
Twice each year, the Book Project organizes a book fair where we offer for purchase used books in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, arts and crafts, history, biographies, memoirs and others. Proceeds raised from these book fairs are used by the Book Project to purchase new textbooks which we include in our shipments of books to schools.
Typically, these used books come to us from private, individual donations and because they are not textbooks or are otherwise not appropriate for sending to schools, we set them aside for inclusion in our book fairs.
The Book Project held two book fairs this year, an In-house Fall Fair, held in our Packing Room in the J Building (J-B3-105) and a Spring Fair, held at the MC-C1 Corridor. During our Fall Book Fair, WB Staff members dropped by during their lunch or coffee break and not only acquainted themselves with the available books but also with the work of the Volunteers of the Book Project. WBFN provided promotional assistance in helping to get the word out through social media and from the WBFN website.
In 2019 with the proceeds from these Book Fairs, The Book Project purchased 500 brand new dictionaries and thesauruses to include in our donations.
Our Donors
The Book Project could not operate without the continued generosity of our many donors from public and private schools in Maryland, Virginia and DC and, of course, the many private individuals who donate books.
We are also grateful for the financial donations we receive from private individuals and members of the World Bank staff who support our mission.
Operational Support
We are grateful for the kind and generous support we continue to receive from the World Bank family Network (WBFN) and the many individuals of the World Bank’s General Services Department (GSD), who provide valuable logistical support for all of our book shipments.
Our Volunteers
Finally, a huge thank you to our wonderful group of dedicated volunteers who work long hours sorting, stamping, packing and labeling books for shipment and also providing assistance in organizing and setting up our books fairs.