The Bright Lights Book Project: More on the Books to Kenya Project
Contributed by Alys Culhane
I remember the day. I was sitting at the BLBP combination desk/table, in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel. Forty-eight Lowes boxes, which collectively contained 2,000 pounds of books, were blocking the window. I’d seriously doubted that they’d go to Kenya because there continued to be numerous logistical complications. I breathed a sigh of relief because the pieces of the puzzle had finally come together.
The inception for the Books to Kenya Project began two years ago, when Brad Schmitz of Alaska English Adventures offered to take Alaska children’s BLBP books in his baggage to Kenya. He, upon arrival in Kenya, passed them on to Martha Abuya, a Kenyan school teacher. Martha subsequently thanked the BLBP board of directors in a Zoom call.
The impetus for the actual BLBP Books to Kenya Project was two Wasilla High School Juniors. Melissa Clemons and Alexi Griffin signed on to be BLBP volunteers at the 2025 Alaska State Fair, and one blustery October Saturday, they appeared at the hotel at 1:00 p.m. ready to work. They first cleaned, stamped and sorted books, then assisted me in packing boxes of books that were to be a part of the Western Alaska typhon relief effort.
Melissa and Alexi also expressed an interest in being involved in the BLBP Bookcases in the Schools program. Pete dropped a bookcase off at Wasilla High School, and the pair took on the role of bookcase guardians. They selected books for their classmates on Saturday afternoons, and on Mondays, they restocked their school bookcase.
The high schooler’s enthusiasm for all things BLBP as well as their stellar work ethic prompted me to ask them if they’d be interested in assisting me in sending books to Martha in Kenya. The two, who are best friends, looked at one another, and then at me. Nothing more needed to be said. Their expressions indicated that, yes, we were going to do this. Our connecting with Martha solidified our collective desire, which was to get books that were in overabundance in Alaska to Kenya, where they were in underabundance.
The Alaskan-based hands-on portion of this project was indicative of the fact that we worked well together. I selected the books from our vast inventory, textbooks and teaching resource materials included. Melissa and Alexi packed the first pallet of books, putting considerable time and care into this all-important but seemingly mundane portion of the project.
The logistical aspect of the project (which fell on my shoulders) was the hard part. It took time and was complicated. I also knew that if I failed in this respect, Martha would be disappointed, and I’d have dashed the hopes of two amazing high schoolers.
Air or sea? How might I go about this? I hadn’t a clue. Going outside during the windstorms was out of the question, which was why I spent my indoor time attempting to figure out the who, what, when, where and why of freight logistics. A breakthrough occurred during the third windstorm. In response to my email letter, Kentex Freight in Carrollton, Texas agreed to make a charitable donation and ship the books from Carrollton to Kenya.
I thought that my having located a shipper who’d take the books halfway around the world meant that finding one who’d take the books from Tacoma to Carrollton would be easy. After all, there were numerous shippers travelling this route. It was not. I spent a month’s time writing letters, filling out email quotes, and making calls, to no avail. Then one day as I was walking across the Poppy Lane parking lot, I found a snow-covered pocket notebook with the name of a Texas truck, RV, and car repair outfit on the front. I called the number on the water sodden notebook.
A service representative with a Texas drawl gave me some contacts, one of which was the ARC Best Freight shipper office. ARC Best sent me a list of shippers and quoted prices. We went with Roadrunner Freight because they were the cheapest. Coincidently, I’d recently come across a children’s book entitled Wiley Coyote: Speed and Velocity.
This is the schedule that I’ve pinned to my corkboard:
Carlile and TOTE: Anchorage to Tacoma, WA. Roadrunner Transport: Tacoma, WA to Carrollton, TX. Kentex Freight: Carrollton, Texas to Kenya. Both Carlile and Kentex are providing the BLBP with charitable donations, making this an affordable venture.
The book donations are continuing to come in. The space that was previously occupied by the 48 boxes going to Kenya was subsequently taken up by 48 boxes of books that were donated to us by the Friends of the Kodiak Public Library.
Mark your calendars and save the dates:
Bleeding Heart Brewery will sponsor an information table in support of the Bright Lights Book Project on Friday, March 13th. And on April 19th at 3:00 p.m., the Mat-Su Orchestra give a benefit concert in support of the Bright Lights Book Project.