Doing good things is reward enough by itself, but recognition never hurts. Especially not when that recognition comes from the city mayor, the county Board of Supervisors, a senator, a congresswoman, and the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And for everything that Mountain View High School did, they certainly deserved that recognition.

Propelled by the high school’s Leo Club, Mountain View High School, in Mountain View, California, was able to collect 1,182 books and $200 in donations in just one week, meeting an African Library Project container shipping deadline. Inspired by Leo Club President Daniel Khalessi, club members attached flyers describing the African Library Project to hundreds of brown paper shopping bags, and passed these out, and envelopes for cash donations, to participating teachers. Club members also visited staff and faculty meetings and lunch sessions to promote the project and ask for support.

The Sunnyvale Lions Club, which sponsors the Leo Club, was also there to provide support and guidance. Local citizen Hugh Donagher initially shared the idea with the Mountain View High club members. “I was so excited about the idea of kids helping other kids around the globe that I introduced them to the idea of running a book drive and creating a library in Africa.” He helped set up a meeting between the Leo Club and African Library Project founder Chris Bradshaw, and let the Leo Club members take it from there.

The book drive is over, but the Leo Club has not stopped promoting literacy in Africa and around the world. They recently held a mixer event at Yahoo! with other Leo Clubs to encourage them to hold their own book drives, and they will be holding a follow-up drive next year.

Their efforts were so successful that they were awarded proclamation of commendations from Tom Means, Mayor of Mountain View, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Senator Elaine Alquist, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Governor Schwarzenegger, who praised the dedication they had shown: “Thanks to your countless hours of service, you created a library in Africa and helped many gain greater access to the wonders of reading.”