Burlingame teens start African library

Members of the Burlingame Leos Club, the teen group affiliated with the Burlingame Lions Club, collected so many children’s books during their recent African Library Project book drive that they’d like to start a second library in Africa.

The students, who all attend Burlingame High School, recently shipped 1,000 books to establish a community library in rural Malawi. They have enough books left to start another library in Africa, but they need to raise $900 to cover the costs of packing and shipping the books overseas in August.

Those who would like to contribute to the project can send a check made out to “Burlingame Lions Charities, Inc.” and mail it to Burlingame Lions Club, ATTN: African Library Project, P.O. Box 206, Burlingame, CA 94011. Donations are tax-deductible.

The campaign is part of the African Library Project (ALP), a nonprofit organization that matches schools and organizations throughout the U.S. with African communities to establish libraries. ALP was started in 2005 by a Portola Valley resident after she visited Lesotho on a family vacation and realized that establishing small libraries in Africa would help end the cycle of poverty and illiteracy.

For more information about the Burlingame Leos Club book drive, email BurlingameALP@gmail.com.