Local Parents and Children Support Literacy in Africa During COVID-19

Local Parents and Children Support Literacy in Africa During COVID-19

by | Jul 20, 2021 | Feature, General, News

Portola Valley, CA. Local families are working through the African Library Project to get books into the hands of children in Sierra Leon, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Malawi, and Lesotho. With the help of volunteers, the nonprofit establishes anywhere from 30-60 libraries per year, even during the pandemic throughout 2020. The process to launch a library is simple as the graphic below suggests, it involves gathering 1,000 gently used or new children’s books and making a $500 donation.

African Library Project establishes partnerships with African-based organizations that specialize in education, library, or community development. The partners must be capable of supporting the development of 30-60 libraries per year.

African Library Project works in English-speaking African countries that meet the organization’s criteria for sustainable library development. The nonprofit looks for countries that have a significant need for books and feature political stability, reliable transport of books to destinations, and a network of local organizations capable of organizing books into real, working libraries. 

Partners and librarians in Africa unloading donated books. The African Library Project pays close attention to a recipient’s ability to sustain a working library.

Giving children access to books has become urgent because, according to a recent study, separation from the classroom as a part of global attempts to curb the spread of COVID-19 is negatively affecting their developing reading skills. The UN reports a significant decline in literacy and reading ability across the globe.

While all non-profit organizations have dedicated staff that work hard to affect change, most non-profits rely on volunteers. The months of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic have taken their toll on all of us.  Many remember all the canceled activities and suspended obligations from March of 2020; the wondering in April and May of how long it was all going to last.  Volunteer programs were not immune to the confusion of constantly shifting guidelines, nor the concerns for safe and healthy conditions.  A report released by VolunteerMatch found that during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, greater than 50% of non-profit organizations were experiencing heavy cancellations from their volunteers.  Now that many states are re-opening and attempting to return to a semblance of normalcy, a lot of us still feel trepidation at the idea of entering back into public life. Here‘s a little “How To” courtesy of the African Library Project on how you can volunteer to support children’s literacy, re-engage with your local community, and stay safe while doing it.  The African Library Project’s online Resource Center features everything you need to help build a library in Africa.  It includes fundraising ideas, book drive guidelines, marketing, and outreach tips, quality standards for donated books, and how to pack and ship your completed library.

Below is an example of a poster:

African Library Project advertisement for the 2021 Summer Book Drive volunteer event.

About The African Library Project:

The African Library Project was founded in 2005 by Chris Bradshaw and her family from Portola Valley, California. While visiting remote villages in Lesotho, a small mountainous kingdom in Southern Africa, Chris was inspired to work toward ending the cycle of poverty and illiteracy when she found out that there was only one public library in the country. She realized the simple act of establishing libraries within schools would have a profound effect on communities as a whole.

We are proud to partner with capable and hardworking organizations and individuals who are dedicated to promoting literacy and library development in Africa. In the United States, volunteers organize book drives and raise funds to ship the books overseas. Once those books are gathered and mailed, the African Library Project relies on a network of dedicated partners within Africa to get them to each community – no matter how far.  In addition to selecting and vetting each library recipient, our trusted partners provide training on how to set up and run a library in a rural community. They also follow up to evaluate the use of our libraries and encourage good library practices. The African Library Project’s goal is to make sure our libraries remain active and continue to enrich those who need them the most.

San Francisco-Marin Food Bank Ramps up Food Distribution with Pop-Up Pantries

San Francisco-Marin Food Bank Ramps up Food Distribution with Pop-Up Pantries

by | Aug 1, 2020 | Feature, General, News

San Francisco, CA. The economic turmoil caused by COVID-19 has heightened another life-threatening issue: food insecurity. Fortunately, food banks such as the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank (pictured above) are rising to the occasion. In recent months, the SF-Marin Food Bank has nearly doubled the number of households it serves. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the nonprofit provided meals to about 32,000 families per week. Now, the Food Bank serves 1,164,155 meals to around 60,000 families weekly.

Masked volunteers pick out apples for meals that will be distributed to Food Bank recipients.

Due to the pandemic, the Food Bank has faced challenges related to an increase in demand and a decrease in volunteers. The organization typically collaborates with a network of more than 275 neighborhood food pantries to distribute food. However, in March, approximately one-third of the food bank’s partner pantries had to close temporarily as a result of safety concerns. Communications & Social Media Manager Keely Hopkins explains, “To ensure our participants did not lose access to food and we could meet the growing need, we opened pop-up pantries.” These ‘pop-up pantries,’ which are set up at 25 different locations and times throughout SF and Marin, optimize participants easy access to food. They serve 5 to10 times as many people as traditional neighborhood pantries.

SF-Marin Food Bank truck transports food.

Pantry at Home is another initiative to ensure participants in the Food Bank network retain access to food. The temporary food delivery program serves 12,000 low-income seniors. According to Hopkins, “This ensures they can still get fresh groceries – like produce, grains, and protein items like meat or eggs – weekly while staying home and avoiding the risks COVID-19 presents to seniors.”

The Food Bank has also made major adjustments to its operational protocols to protect the health of employees and food recipients. Staffers reduced the number of volunteers working at their warehouse at any given time to ensure social distancing guidelines are being followed. Neighborhood food pantries are now pre-bagging groceries instead of operating a farmer’s market-style layout where participants pick out individual items, as they have traditionally done. This minimizes how many people touch the food and reduces the time participants spend waiting in line. What’s more, many pantries have switched to a  drive-through model for picking up food, which offers an additional buffer against unnecessary person-to-person contact.

Food Bank participants wait 6 feet apart in line to receive food.

The SF-Marin Food Bank relies on donations and purchased food to meet the community’s needs. Two years ago, the Food Bank began its Farm to Family program that rescues fresh produce that would otherwise be thrown out by farms and instead gives it to the hungry. As a result of its success, Farm to Family has grown into a state-wide initiative.

The floor of the SF-Marin Food Bank warehouse reads “End Hunger.”

If you or anyone in your community needs access to food or could be interested in getting involved with the SF-Marin Food Bank here’s some information:

  • Click here to find free food. Those who do not have internet access should call 211.
  • Click here to learn how you can get involved with volunteering at the Food Bank today.
  • Click here if you are interested in organizing a food or fund drive.
  • Click here to donate to the SF-Marin Food Bank.

From San Francisco-Marin Food Bank:

Our mission is to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin. We envision a community where everyone is able to obtain enough nutritious food — in a dignified manner — to support the health and well-being of themselves and their families. Hunger is a serious problem in San Francisco and Marin. While the numbers are staggering, we believe that hunger in our community is a solvable problem. Since 1987, the Food Bank has pioneered many successful models aimed at ending hunger.