Barranca 5th grader Damian Scammell spent time reading for three weeks in July as part of the in ‘Together We Read’ summer reading program sponsored by the African Library Project. Courtesy photo

Aspen 2nd grader Evan Guerrero spent time reading for three weeks in July as part of the in ‘Together We Read’ summer reading program sponsored by the African Library Project. Courtesy photo

Since late 2016, Los Alamos has collected, packed, and funded the shipping of more than 40,000 children’s books, enough for 40 school libraries of 1,000 books each in Africa. Courtesy photo

By SHARON ALLEN
K-Kids Sponsor

Two local K-Kids spent three weeks in July participating in Together We Read, a new summer reading program sponsored by the African Library Project.

Students all across the country read so that kids in Africa could receive school libraries. Evan Guerrero, a 2nd grader from Aspen School, and Damian Scammell a 5th grader from Barranca School, both active K-Kids members, spent time every day for three weeks reading and counting the minutes they read each day.

In advance, the students asked sponsors to make either a general donation or a donation for the number of minutes they spent reading. Together, the boys logged 1,800 minutes of reading time over 20 days in July and raised a total of  $370.

The money goes directly to the African Library Project where it will be used to ship donated books to African schools to make libraries.

The Los Alamos community and especially the school kids have been very supportive of this project over the past three years. Los Alamos has collected, packed, and funded the shipping of more than 40,000 children’s books, enough for 40 school libraries of 1,000 books each in the countries of Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, E-Swatini (formerly Swaziland), Sierra Leone and Ghana since late 2016.

The collection of books is presently “on hold” due to lack of storage, but once school is back in session, we hope to start collecting again. So hold onto to your used children’s books a bit longer, please!

Contact Sharon Allen at allenfamily926@mail.com with questions, to volunteer, or to make a donation.

Children in Africa celebrate the books they have received from Los Alamos since late 2016. Courtesy photo