News

In November 2010, Course Hero set out to do something truly powerful for the landscape of education through the launch of the Knowledge Drive. In partnership with Books For Africa, the Knowledge Drive was established to build a better academic resource for students and a brighter future for children in Africa. Just over a year and a half later, that mission has been achieved and surpassed in brilliant fashion, as the Knowledge Drive recently passed 50,000 books donated to Books For Africa and children abroad. The support from students has been awe-inspiring, and it is because of their tremendous dedication that something of such philanthropic power has been accomplished.

This past weekend, Books For Africa partnered with the African Development Center (ADC) [http://www.adcminnesota.org/] to host the Mobilizing Diaspora Connections Conference. Connections within the African community in Minnesota make it possible to deliver services to those that need them the most. As the hosts of the conference, BFA and ADC wanted to celebrate the connections that are necessary to promote economic and community development both in the Twin Cities as well as in Africa.

Sixteen year-old Eagle Scout and book lover, Manvir Singh Bhagrath, shared his time, resources, and hard work with Books For Africa’s mission. In late August, Manvir called the BFA Atlanta warehouse to make sure employees would be there to receive his donations. Several hours later, the young man arrived to deliver a virtual vanload of books and school supplies.

The goal of Operation Gusii Books 2 was simple: bring more books to Gusii community and Kisii County in Kenya. Thanks to a partnership between Minnesota Kenya International Development Association (MKIDA) and BFA, that goal was accomplished. In July, Kisii University College received 500 legal text books from BFA, through MKIDA and the University of Minnesota, along with enough books to fill the libraries of 57 primary schools in surrounding Kisii County.

More than 2 million books to 22 different African countries over the last year? Now that’s a milestone! Here, BFA Executive Director, Patrick Plonski, describes the great achievement of our biggest year yet on KSTP (St. Paul, MN) on August 5, 2012. Plonski talks about how BFA will end the book famine and the great work we have done so far.