St. Cloud State University

News Release

Sorority collecting used textbooks for shipment to Africa

Monday, May 5, 2008

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Through May 9, Delta Phi Epsilon is collecting textbooks to benefit people in Africa. Sorority members will collect used college-level books in green-and-white “Book Drive” collection bins located at Centennial Hall and elsewhere on campus.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization estimates that 781 million adults are illiterate and 100 million children do not attend primary school, with Africa among the hardest-hit continents. Some 42 million schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa do not attend school. Forty percent of Africans over 15 and 50 percent of women over 25 are illiterate. Secondary school enrollment rates average 20 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Delta Phi Epsilon, which has been on campus since 1993, organizes events throughout the year including, the See-Saw-a-Thon for cystic fibrous and the Mr. Irresistible Pageant for anorexia nervosa and associated disorders.

Since 2003, Books For Africa (BFA) has retained Better World Books as its premier agent to collect books and raise funds on its behalf. Books collected are shipped to communities in Africa or sold online to raise a sustainable stream of funding for BFA. Since the partnership began, Better World Books has raised more than $1.5 million in unrestricted funding for Books For Africa and provided more than 780,000 used textbooks for direct shipment to the African continent.

Founded in 1988, St. Paul-based BFA has delivered more than 14.3 million books to 27 African countries. BFA works in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme and the U.S. Agency for International Development to improve education and nutrition simultaneously throughout Africa.

For more information about Delta Phi Epsilon, contact Kari Dahl or Catherine Breuer

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