By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Wow! Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Back to School Textbook Drive so far. Because of you, we are nearly half way to our goal of providing 300 textbooks to students in Mali. If you haven’t got involved yet, please join us in the cheapest feel-good activity you can find — just a $10 donation provides a much-needed textbook.

It is so easy here in the United States to take things like textbooks for granted. A book seems like the bare minimum of tools for a classroom…because it really is! Would you be able to master chemistry or math without a textbook? I know I couldn’t!

In Mali, a classroom without textbooks is a far too common reality. Even where textbooks exist, you will often find 3, 4, or even 8 kids sharing a book. If we want to make the most of our schools’ power to change lives through education, students have access to basic learning tools like textbooks. It’s a no-brainer.

But in three of our schools, we discovered they have ZERO math, biology, or English textbooks…and that means the students are really struggling as they try to learn these critically important subjects.

Our goal is to raise $3,000 to provide 300 textbooks. We are half way there, but need your help. You can give to the Textbook Fund here and really change this school year for the better.