Need inspiration? In less than a month, three 4th grade girls from Arundel Elementary School in San Carlos, California, have collected over 4000 books and $1800 in shipping costs to start four Primary School libraries in Botswana. The girls, Amanda Breslauer, Hannah Blumen-Green, and Madison Norman, not only became the youngest group of students to partner with ALP, but the 4000+ books they collected also breaks the record for the most books collected in a single book drive.

And what’s more, the girls organized it all by themselves. The girls heard about the African Library Project through a family friend, Portola Valley School Superintindent Anne Campbell. The girls, who all love to read, visited the ALP website, and immediately connected with the idea of partnering with ALP. As Amanda puts it, “when we found out a lot of people don’t really have books, the idea sounded great.”

By placing donation cans in the school office and library, advertising ALP at a Book Fair, and placing posters around the school, the girls were able to go far beyond their original collection expectations. As Amanda humbly states, “our original goal was 1000 books and $400, so we are really happy about how much we got.”

The 4000+ books collected by the girls will be shipped to the Maitlamo, Ipeleng, Digawana and Maranyane Primary Schools in Botswana helping 2,760 students and 92 teachers!