The Winston-Salem Symphony in North Carolina is in the midst of a book drive in partnership with 43 area elementary schools, with a goal of collecting 43,000 books—1,000 per donating school—for elementary school libraries in Botswana. The orchestra undertook the book drive as a way to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its Mary Starling In-School Education Program, which introduces elementary students to orchestral music through school ensemble performances and a full orchestra concert. The drive began on January 4 and ends on February 19; 10,000 books have been collected so far. The African Library Project, a San Francisco-based organization that creates libraries in South Africa, is assisting with the project, and Hanesbrands Inc., which is based in Winston-Salem, is providing storage facilities for the books and providing staff and materials to pack boxes of books into bulk containers for shipment to Botswana. The books are expected to reach Botswana in early spring.
Posted February 5, 2010
