The five primary schools on Carriacou are recipients this year of fourty cartons of reading and library reference books from Boaters for Books in Punta Gorda, FL. These books are a portion of the 216 cases of books that landed in St. George last week to help rebuild the school libraries damaged in Hurricanes Ivan and Emily.
Captain Theo Alexis brought the books to the commercial jetty in Harvey Vale, where Magaly Leproust and Jenny Phillips arranged the unloading and delivery to the five schools. Francis Sylvester provided his truck and helped with the transfer of the cartons from the Amelia A to Beck’s Place, where Mr. Gay provided overnight storage. Donnell Leproust also helped with unloading, as did several cruisers, including Bill Donaldson, SV Lucille, Jack Sutton, SV Notlus, Dan Hogarth, SV Eschaton, and Melodye Pompa, SV Second Millennium. The exercise was an excellent example of cooperation among local Carriacouans, ex-patriots living on Carriacou, and visiting yachtsmen.
In a few weeks, a twenty-foot container will arrive in the port of St. George, carrying another one thousand cartons of books and materials for those schools, as a cooperative venture between Boaters for Books and the Global Literacy Project, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
This is the sixth year of operation for Boaters for Books, which began in 1999, with a small shipment of some 3000 books for the public library’s bookmobile in Grenada. Since that modest beginning, some 100,000 books have been collected and sorted by Boaters for Books volunteers and shipped free of charge by Tropical Shipping out of Miami, FL to Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Nevis, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica.
Volunteers in each country sort and distribute the books to those schools which have been identified as in need of library books or who have contacted Boaters for Books by e-mail, asking for assistance. The Grenada project this year is under the direction of Senator the Honorable Emmalin Pierre, who sees the project as a natural companion to the youth development programs she is putting in place.
Photos of the project may be viewed on the Carriacou page of the Boaters for Books Website.
Boaters for Books Inc P.O. Box 510685 Punta Gorda, Florida 33951-0685 www.boatersforbooks.org
Director Kathy Oberle,
kathy1@boatersforbooks.org .
Melodye Pompa, Caribbean Project Director S/v Second Millennium boatmillie@aol.com Cell 473-414-8176
Boaters for Books, Inc.
A 501 (c) (3) Florida non-profit corporation
© 2000-2007 ImaniCom