Wayland Student Collecting Books for Peru

Katie Veal is a eighth grader on a mission to help kids she’s never met.

Veal is collecting new and gently used books in Spanish, all reading levels, to send to Peru with Daniel Fernandez-Davila, a Wayland Middle School social studies teacher and Peruvian archaeologist who serves on the board of Hatun Runa. Hatun Runa is a nonprofit organization working to provide “support for education, health care and everyday domestic life” in the isolated towns and villages of the northwest Andes Mountains.

Veal’s book collection project is a complement to the “Loose Change Campaign,” which collected more than $14,000 to rebuild a dilapidated school in Atuen, Peru. This book collection, Veal’s Girl Scout Silver Award project, aims to fill the bookshelves of that new school.

“I was impressed with Mr. Fernandez’s project,” Veal said, explaining why she chose this particular project as her Silver Award project. “I want kids who are without privileges to have a school and books and to get an education.”

Already Veal has collected about 20 books on her way to a goal of 50. Through June 22, Spanish-language books can be dropped off in boxes at the Wayland Public Library and Wayland Middle School.

Veal is already thinking beyond this book collection project. She said she plans to ask Fernandez about establishing a pen-pal program between her local Girl Scout troop and students in Peru.

Ultimately, she’d like to venture to the South American country herself, but for now collecting books and possibly writing letters will do, she said.