37°
The Darien Book Aid Plan received special recognition last month at the U.S. Summit and Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. Book Aid President Rick Littlefield said, "I ran into people from all walks of life whose work dovetails with the work we are doing."
The Darien Book Aid Plan is a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes books to schools and libraries all over the world. The organization was started in 1949 by Gordon Lamont of Darien to send books to Germany and Austria. Today, it ships over 25,000 books per year. "It was initially started to replace books lost in the war," Littlefield said. "It's grown since then to envelope the whole world."
Littlefield said the recognition was for all of Darien Book Aid's volunteers from Darien and surrounding towns. "We have more than 60 volunteers who come in as they can in the evenings and on Saturday and Sunday," he said. The volunteers organize, stock and ship books. The group also has correspondents who work with the Peace Corps and other organizations to deal with book requests.
"We are funded by the citizens of Darien and surrounding towns," Littlefield said. "Not a penny of our funding comes from the government. We have no paid employees." He also said the organization's building was a donation.
The organization sends books to more than 68 countries and all 50 states. The domestic recipients include schools, nurseries and prisons. Littlefield said that when he was at the summit, he met a former ambassador to Afghanistan, as well as someone establishing schools there, who said they were interested in shipping books to Afghanistan.
"The biggest reward is the letters of appreciation we get from people we send the books to," Littlefield said. "That's a reward that makes us realize how important the work we do is."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Darien and receive free news updates.
