Led by Simley High School Students, Inver Grove Heights Collects Books for Africa

For their National Honor Society senior project, a group of students wanted to do something different from the norm—and put their passion into practice. 

So seniors Kristin Jung, Kourtney Maynard and Kendal Ursin decided to organize a weeklong book drive, with the goal of sending the books they collected to African children overseas.

Thanks to their hard work and creativity, they collected thousands of books using distribution boxes strategically placed at Inver Grove Heights schools and the the week of Sept. 17 to 23. The donations will go to Books for Africa, the world’s largest shipper of donated books to the African continent. The organization collects, sorts, ships and distributes books to children in Africa, its website says, with the goal of ending the "book famine" in Africa.

“A lot came from the library and the elementary schools. It was pretty slow at the high school, but we got four boxes [Friday] morning,” said Jung.

Jung, Maynard and Ursin said they spent three hours painting and hanging signs to increase awareness about the collection. They also printed, hung and distributed approximately 900 fliers across all the schools in Inver Grove Heights.

“We hung them wherever we found an empty spot … we gave them to teachers and sent them home with all the elementary school kids for their parents,” said Ursin.

“We made a Facebook group about the fundraiser, too,” Jung added. “That helped a lot.”

Their promotional activities yielded unanticipated results, with books coming in from unexpected places. All of the donated books are currently being stored at the students' houses.

“We hoped we got three regular boxes of books, at least,” said Jung.
But they received many more, as Inver Grove Heights students donated grocery bags and gift bags filled with books, according to Ursin.

“I’m surprised by how many boxes came from the elementary schools —we got tons of old textbooks from [],” said Ursin. “And donated 10 boxes of books leftover from their garage sale.”

“We have a big group of friends, and they told their parents and churches…they helped spread the word,” added Maynard. “I’m kind of impressed with the number of people who took the time to give."

Jung said she had been involved with Books for Africa projects through her church, and the girls just “jumped on the bandwagon.”

“We’re avid book readers, so to us, it’s really important that people have access to books, and have that way to escape,” said Maynard.

To Jung's knowledge, they are the first group from Simley to make a coordinated effort to collect books for shipment to Africa.

“It’s a real good project with lots of potential. We hope to see other classes do it,” said Ursin. “A lot of times, they fall back on something [a fundraiser or project] that’s been done before.”

However, Maynard believes that truly successful results come from the heart: “You have to be passionate about the project [for it to go well] —there has to be a base interest in that,” she said.

A group of approximately 15 Simley National Honor Society students are planning a service day on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Books for Africa warehouse in St. Paul, Jung said, where they will sort and pack the donated books for shipment to Africa.