Northfield Rotary Club Earns Distinguished Honor for Books For Africa Efforts
The Northfield Rotary Club has been designated as the Books For Africa Kilimanjaro Society Award winner for 2024. This prestigious award recognizes a top donor to Books For Africa for the year.
This award is given in recognition of the leadership role the Northfield Rotary Club undertook last year to facilitate the shipment of five containers of books to South Sudan. The club championed an effort that resulted in a consortium of Rotary clubs and other donors working together, in partnership with the Rotary district, to raise over $43,000 in funding.
This effort also leveraged support from the U.S. Department of Defense Funded Transportation program to assist in covering ocean freight charges. The final result was the shipment of approximately 100,000 books valued at over $1.6 million, 11 computers loaded with 33,000 digital books, two new law libraries, and huge quantities of medical books to Juba, Sudan for distribution across Southern Sudan. Among the collaborating partners in South Sudan were the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Rotary partners.
The South Sudan’s Ambassador to the U.S. came to Minnesota Rotary last year to speak at its 35th anniversary gala and recognized the shipment of these books to South Sudan.
The 2024 Kilimanjaro Society Award will be presented on Thursday, June 27 at a reception at the University Club of St. Paul beginning at 4 p.m. This award ceremony will coincide with the annual Ambassadors Circle meeting.