Yorktown Girl Scouts Collect 2,000 Books for Children in Africa

Two girl scouts, members of Cadette Troop 1358 of Lakeland East, are working together to earn their Silver Awards and bring the gift of learning to children in Africa.

Over the last few months, Shelby Grosso and Gina Scandurra, who are seventh-graders at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School, have collected more than 2,000 children's books, which will be shipped and donated to children in African villages.

"I love to read and I thought it would be great for the children," said Gina, who knew she wanted to somehow incorporate books into her girl scout project. 

Gina said she knew that children in African can't afford more than one textbook at school; while she and her American classmates each have his or her own book that doesn't need to be shared.

For their project project "Books for Africa," both girls combined their passion for books and desire to help other students discover that same love for reading. 

"We are hoping that once the children in Africa read the books we love, they will understand how important reading is and they will love it," Shelby said. 

Gina and Shelby set up collection boxes at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School and Benjamin Franklin Elementary School; while a girls scout troop from Lincoln Titus Elementary School and school officials from Thomas Jefferson Elementary School donated more books on their own. The girls also asked their neighbors to help out in any way they could. 

"At first our goal was [to collect] 100 [books] each," Gina said. "When we got to that goal, we wanted to get 500 [books]."

Next thing they knew, they had collected more than 2,000 books. 

Shelby said she and her friend would often walk away from the donation books with handfuls of books to take home and store. 

"I think it's amazing how our community came together to help us with the project," Gina said. 

Their project is named after "Books for Africa," a non-profit organization that works to increase literacy and improve access to education. The two seventh-graders will be personally delivering their collected books to the "Books for Africa" warehouse in Georgia. There, they will meet with the staff to experience first-hand how the books are packed and shipped to Africa. 

"Gina has always loved books and reading," her mother Margaret Mary Scandurra said. "She also, has always been a child who helps other children. So, really this project of collecting gently used books to send to children in Africa who need them, truly represents what she is about."

She said she was proud of both Gina and her friend Shelby for what they have been able to accomplish to earn their Girl Scout Silver Award Project.

As part of their project, the two girls also hosted "Books for Africa" awareness workshops at their school locations and met with younger girl scout troops to demonstrate leadership about their project. They also met with local children’s author Marisabina Russo has pledged to donate some books to their book drive. 

The girls are collecting children's books through the end of May. For more information email shelbyginabooksforafrica@gmail.com.

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