By: Luke Arney, BookSpringGo volunteer
My journey with BookSpring started over a year ago while I was in my freshman year at Lake Travis High School. During my freshman year in AP Human Geography my teacher, Mrs. Browning, set forth a project that would follow one of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. As a result, I chose to help what I believe is one of the most important goals that can affect all of the other goals, quality education.
Quality education is something that can take a child from a disadvantaged place into one with better circumstances and can affect the rest of their life and family.
I knew that this problem of quality education is something that is present in my own backyard, Austin, Texas. Hence my mom and I were actively seeking for nonprofits in Austin, resulting in us asking almost everyone and anyone if there was a nonprofit that I could have a book drive to benefit. We eventually found the perfect nonprofit. The rest is history.
After finding BookSpring, I was routinely donating books once a month, until the eventual end of the project at the end of my freshman year. However, I did not want to stop. Because this was one thing I was passionate about and I knew this would leave a long-term result of the children given these opportunities and resources. Thus, I keep on doing book drives.
And as time went on, I decided to do my Eagle Project, which allows a Boy Scout to obtain the highest rank of an Eagle Scout, for BookSpring. This project entailed constructing 3 Little Free Libraries for the community and a book drive. I wanted to collect at least 250 books, however, I received over 800 books! My Eagle Project is something that I will gladly show off with pride whenever asked about.
In the future, as I start junior year, near high school graduation, and the start of college, I hope to have more book drives and continue to volunteer with BookSpring!
Message from BookSpring
We cannot thank Luke enough for all his efforts and dedication in bridging the gap to quality education by helping us increase the access to books for many children in Central Texas!
Luke’s Little Free Libraries were distributed to our BookSpringEd program schools: Blackshear, Houston, and Metz Elementary.
To learn more about our volunteer opportunities visit: bookspring.org/get-involved/
