ALLENDALE, Mich. — On Wednesday afternoon, a handful of people were hard at work inside the Allendale Public Schools district office, sorting hundreds of books donated by the community. For years, the Allendale Rotary Club has been working with the African Library Project to help build libraries and stock them with books.
This year's effort will help build a library in Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa. The books were donated at various drop-off locations and through a "Pizza and Pages" event last week at the Allendale Peppino's.
"It's just so inspirational when we see the photos that come back when these books arrive, and we see the kids enjoying the books. I think this is our fifth or sixth library that we've done, so it's just so moving and inspiring," said Kimberly Blum, who serves as the co-president of the Allendale Rotary Club.
OneMonroe in Walker provided the packaging material for the effort. Now that the boxes have been packaged up, the company will handle the logistical side of the project, to make sure the books make it safely across the ocean by boat.
"It really is a team effort of Rotary of Allendale and OneMonroe for this project. That's something that we envision that we're just going to continue doing every year. Every year, we can hopefully start one or two libraries in Africa or other places in the world and help support the education of young people," said JR Prahl, who serves as the general manager of One Monroe.
"A lot of people around the world don't have the same opportunities and privileges that we've been blessed to have here in the United States. So being able to do something to make such a massive impact in someone else's life and give them upward mobility, to me, that's worth every hour, every dollar spent."
If you'd like to help out with future library projects, you can reach out to the Allendale Rotary Club, you can send an email to rotaryofallendale@gmail.com, or message their Facebook page. The organization also encourages people with ideas about how to help others to reach out to their local Rotary Club.
Along with supporting the African Library Project, the Pizza and Pages event at Peppino's raised money for the high school Rotary Club, called Interact, which will be building houses in El Salvador over spring break.
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