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September 25, 2008
Skip that Latte
My extra hot tall non-fat latte at Starbuck's costs me $2.79. I don't buy them very often but often enough. Let's say I buy one per week. In a month, that's $12 (so I rounded up; sue me!). If I made coffee at home 4 extra times a month for a whole year, that would mean I could send $144 to Jane Kurtz for her Ethiopian library project. (I am really, really bad at math. If this is wrong, forgive me. Just go with the flow.) And if twenty other people did the same, Jane's organization would have enough money to move one step closer to their wonderful goal.
Here is an excerpt from an email Jane recently sent me:
Ethiopia Reads, a nonprofit started by Yohannes Gebregeorgis (then a children's librarian at San Francisco Public Library) and Jane Kurtz, children's author, has used donations from individuals and groups to plant 16 new libraries in places where Ethiopian children have never held books before--schools, rented houses, even a donkey mobile library. Yohannes was recently named a CNN hero for his efforts.
This fall, the international office of the International Reading Association offered to help design a baseline survey to see what additional training the Ethiopians running the libraries need to have, especially given that none of them grew up with books in their houses or libraries in their communities. A librarian and teacher have offered to volunteer their time--but gas prices have made airplane tickets soar and the project is short $3000.
Anyone interested in helping out can email Jane Kurtz at jane@janekurtz.com and see more about the project at www.ethiopiareads.org
Wouldn't it be cool if everyone who read my blog sent $10? Ten bucks is what it costs to see a movie these days. And unless the script was written by my brilliant and adorable son, it isn't worth ten bucks. So send the money to Jane and feel really, really good about yourself.
I have donated in the past but in hopes of my readers' generosity, I donated $50 via PayPal just tonight. Somebody out there match me.
Can you imagine growing up without books? I can't. That's why this project is so important.
Hats off to Jane. Hats off to Johannes. Hats off to each one of you who sends $$. Forget the hat. I never wear one anyway. If you donate some bucks, I'll buy you a latte.
Deal? Deal.
Posted by kirby at September 25, 2008 09:59 PM