When we first decided that we wanted to start bringing children’s book to the kids in the out islands of The Bahamas, we had absolutely no idea how many books we’d be able to donate. I knew I had a lot of children’s books in my own garage, leftover from 20+ years 0f teaching! Our area has a lot of great thrift stores too–and I figured I could shop a bit there, and also ask the teachers in the school where I volunteered. I then asked at all my old schools as well. I thought I’d end up with a few small boxes, and I would have been thrilled to get them!
As I put the word out on Facebook, and texted a few friends that I used to teach with, it seemed that everyone else wanted to share their children’s books too! I asked all of the teachers whose classrooms I was volunteering in, and got even more books!
Then I decided that if you don’t ask, you don’t get, so I went ahead and began asking school media center directors too! You’d be amazed at the amount of books that get stored – (sadly) tossed out each year! The generosity of my friends and former colleagues was overwhelming!
We went all over Marco Island and Naples gathering up hundreds of gently used children’s books and stuffing them into every corner of our garage. Hal began to wonder when he’d get his garage back…lol!
Then another BIG-HEARTED friend offered the space in her garage too! Thanks DAWNIE! Now, it was ON! I was hearing from people with kids books a few times a week and I gratefully gathered them up from all over our local area and several school libraries.
Once we’d filled up both garages I knew we’d NEVER be able to take the books to The Bahamas on our own boat. Yep, it was time to look for a way to ship these books to The Bahamas on a cargo ship. I reached out to those in the sailing community to see if they could take on a few books and split up the load…but no one got back to me. Then I tried a few corporate contacts and some of Hal’s old USCG buddies to see if they had any connections, but no luck. I knew there had to be a way…I reached out to the cruise ships and airlines too, because they do so much business in The Bahamas. They offered to help but never followed up with my messages.
My last ditch effort was a cargo/container ship that I knew had a direct route to George Town Exuma, our new ‘base of operations.’ 🙂 The CEO (purposely unnamed) was immediately and enthusiastically willing to ship the books! In fact, he even made a point to come out and meet us, and learn more about the mission, while we were putting all the books together on the pallets! Once boxed, palleted, wrapped and weighed, the total came to over 3,000 pounds of donated children’s books! Restores your faith in humanity, doesn’t it??
Thankfully, once the books arrived by cargo ship in Exuma, they were met, received, and seamlessly processed through customs — thanks to the GENEROUS and incredibly capable friends at LaeTuivs ministry! We are immensely grateful for their kindness, care and professionalism and we are SO LOOKING forward to having them join us on our delivery trips to the outer islands soon!
We also owe a big thank you to the folks at Restoration Exuma who, along with LaeTuivs, helped move the books, and the donated baseball and softball equipment, too. They also moved the new washer/dryer set over to the Humane Society Exuma, which does amazing work caring for the needs of Exuma’s pets, stray cats and beloved potcakes. Another shout out of thanks, for storage of the books, goes to KariJava Coffee House! We ask that you would please support these admirable groups, as they supported us, and in turn, you’re supporting those in need…truly a win-win for all!
